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ORIGINAL NARRATIVES 
OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 

REPRODUCED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

General Editor, J. FRANKLIN JAMESON, Ph.D., LL.D. 

DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN THE 
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON 



THE NORTHMEN, COLUMBUS, AND CABOT 

985—1503 



ORIGINAL NARRATIVES 
OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 



THE NORTHMEN 
COLUMBUS AND CABOT 

985-1503 



THE VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

EDITED BY 
JULIUS E. OLSON 

PROFESSOR OF THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES 
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 

THE VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 
AND OF JOHN CABOT 

EDITED BY 

EDWARD GAYLORD BOURNE, Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN YALE UNIVERSITY 



WITH MAPS AND A FACSIMILE 
REPRODUCTION 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
NEW YORK ------ 1906 



N&7 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDies Received 

OCT 11 1906 

Copyright Entry 

6Jc4-. If. H^^ 

CLASS cw XXc, No. 
COPY B. 



COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



Published, September, 1906 



GENERAL PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL NAR- 
RATIVES OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 

At its annual meeting in December, 1902, the American 
Historical Association approved and adopted the plan of the 
present series, and the undersigned was chosen as its general 
editor. The purpose of the series was to provide individual 
readers of history, and the libraries of schools and colleges, 
with a comprehensive and well-rounded collection of those 
classical narratives on which the early history of the United 
States is founded, or of those narratives which, if not precisely 
classical, hold the most important place as sources of American 
history anterior to 1700. The reasons for undertaking such a 
project are for the most part obvious. No modern history, 
however excellent, can give the reader all that he can get from 
the ipsissima verba of the first narrators. Argonauts or eye- 
witnesses, vivacious explorers or captains courageous. There 
are many cases in which secondary narrators have quite hidden 
from view these first authorities, whom it is therefore a duty 
to restore to their rightful position. In a still greater number 
of instances, the primitive narrations have become so scarce 
and expensive that no ordinary library can hope to possess 
anything hke a complete set of the classics of early American 
history. 

The series is to consist of such volumes as will illustrate 
the early history of all the chief parts of the country, with an 
additional volume of general index. The plan contemplates, 
not a body of extracts, but in general the publication or repub- 
lication of whole works or distinct parts of works. In the case 
of narratives originally issued in some other language than 
English, the best available translations will be used, or fresh 
versions made. In a few instances, important narratives 



vi GENERAL PEEFACE 

hitherto unprinted will be inserted. The English texts will 
be taken from the earliest editions, or those having the highest 
historical value, and will be reproduced with literal exactness. 
The maps will be such as will give real help toward understand- 
ing the events narrated in the volume. The special editors 
of the individual works will supply introductions, setting forth 
briefly the author's career and opportunities, when known, 
the status of the work in the literature of American history, 
and its value as a source, and indicating previous editions; 
and they will furnish such annotations, scholarly but simple, 
as will enable the intelligent reader to understand and to esti- 
mate rightly the statements of the text. The effort has been 
made to secure for each text the most competent editor. 

The results of all these endeavors will be laid before the 
public in the confident hope that they will be widely useful in 
making more real and more vivid the apprehension of early 
American history. The general editor would not have under- 
taken the serious labors of preparation and supervision if he 
had not felt sure that it was a genuine benefit to American his- 
torical knowledge and American patriotism to make accessible, 
in one collection, so large a body of pioneer narrative. No sub- 
sequent sources can have quite the intellectual interest, none 
quite the sentimental value, which attaches to these early 
narrations, springing direct from the brains and hearts of the 
nation's founders. 

Sacra recognosces annalibus eruta priscis. 

J. FRANKLIN JAMESON. 
Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C. 



NOTE 

Special acknowledgments and thanks are due to the repre- 
sentatives of the late Arthur Middleton Reeves, who have kindly 
permitted the use of his translations of the Vinland sagas, origi- 
nally printed in his Findijig of Wineland the Grood, published in 
London by the Clarendon Press in 1890 ; to the President and 
Council of the Hakluyt Society, for permission to use Sir Clements 
Markham's translation of the Journal of Columbus's first voyage, 
printed in Vol. LXXXVI. of the publications of that Society 
(London, 1893), and that of Dr. Chanca's letter and of the letter 
of Columbus respecting his fourth voyage, by the late Mr. R. H. 
Major, in their second and forty-third volumes. Select Letters 
of Columbus (London, 1847, 1870); to the Honorable John Boyd 
Thacher, of Albany, for permission to use his version of Las 
Casas's narrative of the third voj^age, as printed by him in his 
Christopher Columbus (New York, 1904), published by Messrs. 
G. P. Putnam's Sons ; to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin and Com- 
pany for permission to use, out of the third volume of Winsor's 
Narrative and Critical History of America, the late Dr. Charles 
Deane's translation, revised by Professor Bennet H, Nash, of the 
second letter of Raimondo de Soncino respecting John Cabot's 
expedition ; and to George Philip and Son, Limited, of London, 
for permission to use the map in Markham's Life of Christopher 
Columbus as the basis for the map in the present volume, showing 
the routes of Columbus's four voyages. 



CONTENTS 

ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF THE VOYAGES OF THE 
NORTHMEN 

Edited bt Professor Julius E. Olson 

PAGB 

Introduction 3 

The Saga op Eric the Red 14 

The Ancestry of Gudrid 14 

The Colonization of Greenland 15 

Gudrid's Father emigrates to Greenland 20 

The Sibyl and the Famine in Greenland 21 

Leif the Lucky and the Discovery of Vinland 23 

Thorstein's Attempt to find Vinland 26 

The Marriage of Gudrid to Thorstein 27 

The Ancestry of Thorfinn Karlsef ni ; his Marriage with Gudrid . 30 

Karlsefni's Voyage to Vinland 31 

The First Winter in Vinland 34 

Description of Vinland and the Natives 36 

The Uniped ; Snorri ; the Captured Natives 40 

Biarni Grimolfson's Self-sacrifice 42 

Karlsefni and Gudrid's Issue 43 

The Vinland History of the Flat Island Book .... 45 

Eric the Red and the Colonization of Greenland 45 

Leif Ericson's Baptism in Norv/ay 47 

Biarni Herjulfson sights New Land 48 

Biarni's visit to Norway 50 

Leif's Voyage of Exploration 50 

The Discovery of Grapes 52 

Thorvald's Expedition to Vinland 54 

Thorfinn Karlsefni's Expedition to Vinland 59 

The Expedition of Freydis and her Companions 62 

Karlsefni and Gudrid return to Iceland 65 

From Adam of Bremen's Descriptio Insularum Aquilonis . . 67 

From the Icelandic Annals . . .69 

Aunales Regii 69 

From the Elder Skdlholt Annals 69 

ix 



X CONTENTS 

rAGl! 

Papal Letters concerning the Bishopric of Gardar in Green- 
land DURING THE FIFTEENTH CeNTURY 70 

Letter of Nicholas V 70 

Letter of Alexander VI 73 

ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF THE VOYAGES OF 

COLUMBUS 

Edited by Professor Edward G. Bourne 

Articles op Agreement between the Lords, the Catholic Sov- 
ereigns, AND Christobal Colon 77 

Columbus appointed Admiral and Viceroy of such Mainland and 

Islands as he should Discover 77 

Title granted by the Catholic Sovereigns to Christobal Colon 
OF Admiral, Viceroy, and Governor of the Islands and 
Mainland that may be Discovered . . . . .81 

The Powers and Privileges of the Office of Admiral .... 82 

Journal of the First Voyage of Columbus 85 

Introduction 87 

The Voyage to the Canaries; repairs on the Pmto .... 91 

The Double Reckoning of the Distances 94 

Traces of the Nearness of Land 96 

The Fears of the Sailors 99 

The Chart 100 

The Declination of the Compass 103 

The Course changed from West to West-southwest .... 107 

The Light on Shore 109 

The Island of Guanahani 110 

The Natives Ill 

The Islands of Santa Maria and Fernandina 115 

Description of the Natives of Fernandina 121 

The Island of Isabella 123 

Reports of the Island of Cuba; Columbus takes it to be Cipango . 126 

Products of the Islands 127 

Arrival at Cuba 130 

Columbus thinks it to be Cathay 134 

He sends an Embassy to the Gran Can 137 

Return of the Messengers ; their Report 140 

Products of Cuba 144 

Planting the Cross 149 

Martin Alonso Pinzdn sails away with the Pinta .... 152 

Columbus returns to Cuba 153 

Signs of Gold 154 

Rumors of a Monstrous People . 156 



CONTENTS xi 

PAGE 

The Eastern End of Cuba 158 

Columbus outlines a Colonial Policy 159 

The Natives. A Large Canoe 162 

An Interview with the Natives 163 

Discovery of Hayti 167 

First View of Hayti 168 

Further Description of the Island 171 

Columbus names it Espanola 173 

The Products of the Island 171 

Visit to a Native Village 176 

yThe Life of the People 177 

Another Village Visited 180 

Description of an Indian Cacique 183 

The Cacique visits the Ship of Columbus 185 

Columbus anchors in the Bay of Acul 188 

Description of Native Life 190 

Trading with the Natives 194 

A Large Village 196 

Character of the Natives 198 

Wreck of the Santa Maria 199 

Helpfulness of the Indians 201 

The Cacique dines on Shipboard 202 

Columbus plans to have a Garrison 204 

Inquiries after the Source of the Gold 206 • 

Preparations to return to Spain 208 

Spices and Pepper 209 

The Garrison left at Navidad 210 

The Return Voyage Begun 211 

Columbus concludes that Cipango is in Espanola .... 212- 

News of the Pinta 213 

Return of Martin Pinzon with the Pinta . . r . . . 214 

Comment on the Pinzons 216 

The Harbor where Pinzon had Tarried 219 

Samana Bay Discovered 221 

The Caribs. Indians with Long Hair 223 

Matinino, an Island inhabited by Women Only 226 ■ 

Columbus takes the Direct Course for Spain 228 

Varieties of Sea Life 230 

Continued Fine Weather 234 

Finding their Position 235 

A Terrible Storm 238 

Columbus's Reflections 240 

Prepares a Brief Report which is fastened in a Barrel . . . 241 

The Storm Abates 242 

Arrival at Santa Maria in the Azores 244 



xii CONTENTS 

PAOK 

Suspicions and Hostility of the Governor 245 

Columbus hampered by the Detention of Part of his Crew . . . 247 

The Sailors are Restored 249 

Violent Gale off Portugal 251 

Columbus at Lisbon 252 

Interview with the King of Portugal 254 

Columbus leaves Lisbon 257 

Arrival at Palos 257 

Letter from Columbus to Luis de Santangel ..... 259 

ixtroduction 261 

The New Islands Discovered 263 

Description of their People and Products 265 

Description of Espaiiola 268 

Value of the Discoveries to Spain 268 

A Fort built and Garrisoned 269 

The Customs of the Inhabitants 270 

Letter from Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella concerning 

THE Colonization and Commerce of Espanola . . . 273 

The Regulations proposed for Settlements 274 

The Regulations for Mining 275 

The Regulations for Commerce 276 

Letter of Dr. Chanca on the Second Voyage of Columbus . 279 

Introduction 281 

The Outward Voyage. Stopping at the Canary Islands . . . 283 

First Impressions of the Lesser Antilles 285 

Intercourse with the Inhabitants 285 

Their Cabins ; their Arts 286 

The Caribbees 287 

Indications of Cannibalism 288 

Customs of the Caribbees. They Eat their Captives .... 289 

Return of Diego Marquez who had been Lost 291 

A Clash with the Caribbees 293 

Discovery and Description of Porto Rico 294 

Arrival at Espanola 295 

Following the Coast 297 

Suspicious Circumstances; Fears for the Spaniards left at Navidad . 298 

Navidad in Ruins and the Garrison All Dead 300 

Vestiges of the Settlement 301 

Fixing upon the Site for a New Settlement 302 

Columbus visits the Cacique Guacamari 304 

Examining Guacamari's Wound 305 

Guacamari's Amazement at seeing Horses 305 

The Site selected for the New Settlement named Isabella . . .307 



CONTENTS xiii 

PAOB 

The Food and Clothing of the Natives 308 

The Products of the Country 310 

Columbus sends out Exploring Parties to Cibao and Niti . . . 312 

Conclusion 313 

Narrative of the Third Voyage of Columbus as contained in 

Las Casas's History 315 

Introduction 317 

The Start. Arrival at Madeira 319 

Three Ships despatched direct to Espanola 320 

Columbus goes to the Canary Islands 323 

The Lepers' Colony on the Island of Boavista, one of the Cape Verde 

Islands 324 

Columbus at the Island of Santiago 325 

He sails Southwest from the Cape Verdes. Intense Heat • . . 327 

Signs of Land 327 

The Course is changed to the West 328 

Discovery of Trinidad 331 

August 1, 1498, the Mainland of South America Sighted . . . 332 

The Dangers of the Serpent's Mouth 334 

Intercourse with Indians of the Mainland 335 

Their Appearance and Arms 336 

Fauna and Flora 338 

Exploring the Gulf of Paria 340 

Trading with the Indians 343 

Columbus retains Six Indians as Captives 343 

Nuggets and Ornaments of Gold 345 " 

Indian Cabins 346 

Exploring the Western End of the Gulf 347 

Columbus's Reflections upon his Discoveries 348 

The Terrors and Perils of the Boca del Drago 354 

The Northern Coast of Paria 355 

Columbus suffers from Inflammation of the Eyes .... 357 

Columbus begins to believe the Land is Mainland .... 358 

His Reasons for not Exploring It 360 

Observations of the Declination of the Needle 363 

The Products of the Country 364 

Arrival at Santo Domingo, August 31, 1498 366 

Letter of Columbus to the Nurse of Prince John . . . 367 

Introduction 369 

The Injustice of the Treatment accorded to Columbus . . . 371 

Conditions in Espanola upon his Arrival 373 

The Rebellion of Adrian de Muxica 374 

The Conduct of the Commander Bobadilla 375 

His Unwise Concessions to the Colonists 376 



xiv CONTENTS 



PAOH 



Bad Character of Some of the Colonists 378 

Bobadilla's Seizure of the Gold set apart by Columbus . . . 380 

The Proper Standards by which Columbus should be Judged . . 381 

Richness of the Mines in Espanola 382 

Seizure of Columbus's Papers 383 

Letter of Columbus on the Fourth Voyage 385 

Introduction 387 

Voyage to Espanola 389 

A Terrible Storm 390 

Storms on the Coast of Central America 391 

Anxieties and Misfortunes of Columbus 392 

Arrival at Veragua 394 

Evidence that Columbus had reached the Extremity of Asia . . 395 

Marinus's Views of the Extent of the Earth Confirmed . . . 396 

Exploring the Coast of Veragua 398 

Recurrences of Storms 399 

Excursion into the Interior of Veragua 401 

Difficulties with the Natives 402 

"" Columbus's Vision 403 

Decides to return to Spain 405 

Columbus arrives at Jamaica 406 

No one else knows where to find Veragua 407 

Some Features of the Country 408 

^ The Arts of the Natives 409 

The Gold brought to Solomon from the Far East .... 412 

The Recovery of Jerusalem 413 

Retrospect. Columbus's Justification 415 

His Distressing Plight in Jamaica 418 

ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF THE VOYAGES OF JOHN 

CABOT 

Edited by Professor Edward G. Bourne 

Introduction 421 

Letter of Lorenzo Pasqualigo to his Brothers Alvise and 

Francesco, Merchants in Venice 423 

The First Letter of Raimondo de Soncino, Agent of the Duke 

OP Milan, to the Duke 424 

The Second Letter of Raimondo de Soncino to the Duke of 

Milan 425 

Despatch to Ferdinand and Isabella from Pedro de Ayala, 
Junior Ambassador at the Court op England, July 25, 

1498 429 



MAPS AND FACSIMILE REPRODUCTION 



PAGE 

1. Map showing the Routes, Outward and Return, of the Four 

Voyages of Columbus 88 

2. Facsimile of the First Page of the Folio (first) Edition of 

the Spanish Text of Columbus's Letter, dated February 
15, 1493, TO Santangel, describing his First Voyage. From 
the original (unique) in the New York Public Library (Lenox 
Building) 262 

3. The New World in the Canting Chart of 1502, showing the 

State of Geographical Knowledge at the Time of the 
Death of Columbus 418 



XV 



ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF THE 
VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 



INTRODUCTION 

The important documents from Norse sources that may be 
classed as "Original Narratives of Early American History" 
are the Icelandic sagas (prose narratives) that tell of the voy- 
ages of Northmen to Vinland. There are two sagas that deal 
mainly with these voyages, while in other Icelandic sagas and 
annals there are a number of references to Vinland and adja- 
cent regions. These two sagas are the ''Saga of Eric the 
Red" and another, which, for the lack of a better name, we 
may call the ''Vinland History of the Flat Island Book," but 
which might well bear the same name as the other. This last 
history is composed of two disjointed accounts found in a fine 
vellum manuscript known as the Flat Island Book (Flateyjar- 
bok), so-called because it was long owned by a family that 
lived on Flat Island in Broad Firth, on the northwestern coast 
of Iceland. Bishop Brynjolf, an enthusiastic collector, got 
possession of this vellum, "the most extensive and most per- 
fect of Icelandic manuscripts," and sent it, in 1662, with other 
vellums, as a gift to King Frederick III. of Denmark, where 
it still is one of the great treasures of the Royal Library. 

On account of the beauty of the Flat Island vellum, and 
the number of sagas that it contained (when printed it made 
1700 octavo pages), it early attracted the attention of Old. 
Norse collectors and scholars, and hence the narrative relating 
to Vinland that it contained came to be better known than the 
vellum called Hauk's Book, containing the "Saga of Eric the 
Red," and was the only account of Vinland that received 
I any particular attention from the scholars of the seventeenth 
[ and eighteenth centuries. The Flat Island Book narrative 

3 



4 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN" 

was also given first place in Rafn's Antiquitates Americams 
(Copenhagen, 1837). This ponderous volume contained all 
the original sources, but it has given rise to much needless 
controversy on the Norse voyages, for many of the author's 
conclusions were soon found to be untenable. He failed to win- 
now the sound historical material from that which was unsub- 
stantiated or improbable. And so far as the original sources 
are concerned, it was particularly unfortunate that he fol- 
lowed in the footsteps of seventeenth and eighteenth century 
scholars and gave precedence to the Flat Island Book narra- 
tive. In various important respects this saga does not agree 
with the account given in the ''Saga of Eric the Red," which 
modern scholarship has pronounced the better and more reli- 
able version, for reasons that we shall consider later. 

The Flat Island Book consists of transcripts of various 
sagas made by the Icelandic priests Jon Thordsson and Mag- 
nus Thorhallsson. Very Httle of their Hves is known, but 
there is evidence to show that the most important portion of 
the copying was completed about 1380. There is, however, 
no information concerning the original from which the tran- 
scripts were made. From internal evidence, however, Dr. 
Storm of the University of Christiania thinks that this original 
accoimt was a late production, possibly of the fourteenth 
century.^ It is, moreover, evident that this original account 
was quite different from the one from which the existing ''Saga 
of Eric the Red" was made, so that we have two distinct ac- 
counts of the same set of events, both separately derived from 
oral tradition, a fact which, on account of the lack of harmony 
in details, has been the source of much confusion, but which 
nevertheless gives strong testimony concerning the verity of 
the Vinland tradition in its general outlines. 

The saga which has best stood the test of modem criticism, 
namely the "Saga of Eric the Red," has beyond this fact the 

^ Eiriks Saga Raudha (Copenhagen, 1891), p. xv. 



INTRODUCTION 5 

additional advantage of having come down to us in two differ- 
ent vellums. The one is found in Hauk's Book, No. 544 of 
the Arne-Magnsean Collection in Copenhagen, and the other 
is in No. 557 of the same collection. These two narratives 
(in vellums 544 and 557) tell the same story. They are so 
closely allied that the translation which appears in this vol- 
ume has been made from a collation of both texts, that of 
Hauk's Book (544) having been more closely followed.^ The 
Hauk's Book text is clearly legible; No. 557 is not in such 
good condition. 

Many facts in the life of Hauk Erlendsson, who with the 
assistance of two secretaries made Hauk's Book, are known. 
He was in 1294 made a ' 'lawman" in Iceland, and died in 
Norway in 1334. There are reasons for believing that the 
vellum bearing his name was written a number of years before 
his death, probably during the period 1310-1320. Hauk was 
particularly interested in the ''Saga of Eric the Red," as he 
was descended from Thorfinn Karlsefni, the principal charac- 
ter of the saga, a fact that perhaps lends a certain authority 
to this version as against that of the Flat Island Book. Hauk 
brings the genealogical data of the saga down to his own time, 
which is not done in No. 557, one fact among others which 
shows that 557 is not a copy of 544. 

The early history of AM. 557 is not known. The orthog- 
raphy and hand indicate that it was made later than Hauk's 
Book, probably in the early part of the fifteenth century. 
Vigfusson considered it a better text than the Hauk's Book 
version, though rougher and less carefully written.^ Other 
critics (Jonsson and Gering) consider 544 the safer text. 

In regard to the date of composition of the archetype, it 
may be remarked that both 544 and 557 speak of Bishop Brand 
''the Elder," which presupposes a knowledge of the second 

^ A translation, with the title "The Story of Thorfinn Carlsemne," based 
on AM. 557, may be found in Origines Islandicae, II. 610. 
^ Origines Islandicae, II. 590. 



6 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

Bishop Brand, whose accession occurred in 1263. Before this 
date, therefore, the originals used in making 544 and 557 could 
not have been written. But this mention of Bishop Brand 
'Hhe Elder" does not, we think, give an adequate basis for 
fixing the date of the composition of the saga, as Dr. Storm 
believes, who places it somewhere between 1263 and 1300, 
with an inclination toward the earlier date. Dr. Finnur 
Jonsson,^ who accepts Dr. Storm's opinion in other respects, 
says on this point : ''The classic form of the saga and its vivid 
and excellent tradition surely carry it back to about 1200. . . . 
To assume that the saga was first written down about 1270 
or after, I consider to be almost an impossibihty." Nor does 
this conservative opinion by Dr. Jonsson preclude the pos- 
sibility, or even probability, that written accounts of the Vin- 
land voyages existed before this date. John Fiske's ^ well- 
considered opinion of this same saga (544 and 557) has weight : 
'' Its general accuracy in the statement and grouping of so many 
remote details is proof that its statements were controlled by 
an exceedingly strong and steady tradition, — altogether too 
strong and steady, in my opinion, to have been maintained 
simply by word of mouth." And Vigfusson,^ in speaking of 
the sagas in general, says: ''We beHeve that when once the 
first saga was written down, the others were in quick succes- 
sion committed to parchment, some still keeping their original 
form through a succession of copies, others changed. The 
saga time was short and transitory, as has been the case with 
the highest literary periods of every nation, whether we look 
at the age of Pericles in Athens, or of our own Elizabeth in 
England, and that which was not written down quickly, in 
due time, was lost and forgotten forever." 

The absence of contemporary record has caused some 

^ Den oldnorske og oldislandske Litter aturs Historic (Copenhagen, 1901), 
II. 648. 

^ The Discovery of America, p. 212. 

^ Prolegomena, Sturlunga Saga, p. Ixix. 



INTRODUCTION 7 

American historians to view the narratives of the Vinland 
voyages as ordinary hearsay. But it is important to remem- 
ber that before the age of writing in Iceland there was a saga- 
telling age, a most remarkable period of intellectual activity, 
by means of which the deeds and events of the seething life 
of the heroic age were carried over into the age of writing/ 
The general trustworthiness of this saga-telling period has been 
attested in numerous ways from foreign records. Thus Snorri 
Sturlason's "The Sagas of the Kings of Norway," one of the 
great history books of the world, written in Iceland in the 
thirteenth century, was based primarily on early tradition, 
brought over the sea to Iceland. Yet the exactness of its 
descriptions and the reliability of its statements have been 
verified in countless cases by modern Norwegian historians.^ 

With reference to the Vinland voyages, there is proof of 
an unusually strong tradition in the fact that it has come 
down from two sources, the only case of such a phenomenon 
among the Icelandic sagas proper. It does not invalidate the 
general truth of the tradition that these two sources clash in 
various matters. These disagreements are not so serious but 
that fair-minded American scholars have found it ''easy to 
beheve that the narratives contained in the sagas are true in 

^ Snorri, the Icelandic historian, says that "it was more than 240 years 
from the settlement of Iceland (about 870) before sagas began to be written" 
and that "Ari (1067-1148) was the first man who wrote in the vernacular 
stories of things old and new." 

^ "Among the mediaeval literatures of Europe, that of Iceland is un- 
rivalled in the profusion of detail with which the facts of ordinary life are 
recorded, and the clearness with which the individual character of number- 
less real persons stands out from the historic background. . . . The Ice- 
landers of the Saga-age were not a secluded self-centred race; they were 
untiring in their desire to learn all that could be known of the lands round 
about them, and it is to their zeal for this knowledge, their sound historical 
sense, and their trained memories, that we owe much information regarding 
the British Isles themselves from the ninth to the thirteenth century. The 
contact of the Scandinavian peoples with the English race on the one hand, 
and the Gaelic on the other, has been an important factor in the subsequent 
history of Britain; and this is naturally a subject on which the Icelandic 
evidence is of the highest value." Prefatory Note to Origines Islandicae. 



8 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

their general outlines and important features." It lies within 
the province of Old Norse scholarship to determine which of 
the two Vinland sagas has the better literary and historical 
antecedents. After this point has been established, the truth- 
fulness and credibility of the selected narrative in its details 
must be maintained on the internal evidence in conjunction 
with the geographical and other data of early America. And 
here American scholarship may legitimately speak. 

These sagas have in recent years been subjected, especially 
by Dr. Gustav Storm of Christiania,^ to most searching tex- 
tual and historical criticism, and the result has been that the 
simpler narrative of Hauk's Book and AM. 557 is pronounced 
the more reliable account.^ In respect to Hterary quality, it 
has the characteristics of the Icelandic sagas proper, as dis- 
tinguished from the later sagas by well-known hterary men 
hke Snorri. Where it grazes facts of Northern history it is 
equally strong. Thus, there is serious question as to the first 
sighting of land by Biarni Herjulfson, who is mentioned only 
in the Flat Island narrative, and nowhere else in the rich 
genealogical literature of Iceland, although his alleged father 
was an important man, of whom there are reliable accounts. 
On the other hand, the record of the ''Saga of Eric the Red," 
giving the priority of discovery to Leif Ericson, can be col- 
laterally confirmed.^ The whole account of Biarni seems sus- 

^ Studies on the Vinland Voyages (Copenhagen, 1889) and Eiriks Saga 
Raudha (Copenhagen, 1891). 

^ Of the same opinion are Professor Hugo Gering of Kiel, Zeitschrift fur 
deutsche Philologie, XXIV. (1892), and Professor Finnur Jonsson of Copen- 
hagen, Den oldnorske og oldislandske Litteraturs Historie, H. 646. 

^ The Kristni-Saga, which tells of the conversion of Iceland, says: "That 
summer [1000] King Olaf [of Norway] went out of the country to Wendland 
in the south, and he sent Leif Eric's son to Greenland to preach the faith 
there. It was then that Leif discovered Vinland the Good. He also dis- 
covered a crew on the wreck of a ship out in the deep sea, and so he got the^ 
name of Leif the Lucky." For passages from other sagas that corroborate 
Leif's discovery on his voyage from Norway to Greenland {i.e., in the year 
that Olaf Tryggvason fell, namely, 1000), see Reeves, The Finding of Wine- 
land the Good (London, 1895), pp. 7-18. 



INTRODUCTION 9 

picious, and the main facts, viewed with reference to Leif's 
discovery, run counter to Northern chronology and history. 
There are, however, two incidental touches in the Flat Island 
Book narrative, which are absent from the other saga, namely, 
the observation concerning the length of the day in Vinland, 
and the reference to finding ''three skin-canoes, with three 
men under each." The improbabilities of the Flat Island 
Book saga are easily detected, if one uses as a guide the simpler 
narrative of the ''Saga of Eric the Red," the only doubtful 
part of which is the "uniped" episode, a touch of mediaeval 
superstition so palpable as not to be deceptive. 

Aside from such things as picking grapes in the spring, 
sipping sweet dew from the grass, and the presence of an appa- 
rition, the Flat Island Book account, when read by itself, with 
no attempt to make it harmonize with the statements of the 
" Saga of Eric the Red" or other facts of Scandinavian history, 
is a sufficiently straightforward narrative. The difficulty be- 
gins when it is placed in juxtaposition to these facts and state- 
ments. It should not be and need not be discarded, but in 
giving an account of the Vinland voyages it must be used with 
circumspection. From an historical standpoint it must occupy 
a subordinate place. If Rafn in his Antiquitates Americance 
had given emphatic precedence to the saga as found in Hauk's 
Book and AM. 557, had left to American scholars the Dighton 
Rock and the Newport Tower, and had not been so confident 
in the matter of identifying the exact localities that the ex- 
plorers visited, he might have carried conviction, instead of 
bringing confusion, to American scholars. 

The general results of the work of the Norwegian scholar 
Dr. Storm, together with a unique presentation of the original 
narratives, are accessible in The Finding of Wineland (London, 
1890 and 1895), by an American scholar, the late Arthur 
Middleton Reeves. This work contains a lucid account of 
the important investigations on the subject, photographs of 



o 



10 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

all the vellum pages that give the various narratives, a printed 
text accompanying these, page by page and line by line, and 
also translations into English. There is one phase of the sub- 
ject that this work does not discuss : the identifications of the 
regions visited by the Northmen. Dr. Storm, however, has 
gone into this subject, and is convinced that Helluland, Mark- 
land, and Vinland of the sagas, are Labrador, Newfoundland, 
and Nova Scotia.^ The sailing directions in the ''Saga of 
Eric the Red" are given with surprising detail. These, with 
other observations, seem to fit Nova Scotia remarkably well. 
Only one thing appears to speak against Storm's view, and 
that is the abundance of grapes to which the Flat Island Book 
account testifies. But coupled with this testimony are state- 
ments (to say nothing of the unreliability of this saga in other 
respects) that indicate that the Icelandic narrators had come 
to believe that grapes were gathered in the spring, thus in- 
validating the testimony as to abundance. 

Whether the savages that the sagas describe were Indians 
or Eskimos is a question of some interest. John Fiske ^ be- 
lieves that the explorers came in contact with American Ind- 
ians; Vigfusson, on the other hand, believes that the sagas 
describe Eskimos. Here, however, the American has the 
better right to an opinion. 

On this point, it is of importance to call attention to the 
fact that the Norse colonists in Greenland found no natives 
there, only vestiges of them. They were at that time farther 
north in Greenland ; the colonists came in contact with them 
much later, — too late to admit of descriptions of them in 
any of the classical Icelandic sagas, in which the Greenland 
colonists play no inconspicuous part. Ari, the great authority 
on early Norse history, speaking of the Greenland colonists, 

* See, in support of Storm, Juul Dieserud's paper, "Norse Discoveries in 
America," Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Feb., 1901. 
' Discovery of America, p. 182. 



INTRODUCTION" 11 

says, in his Lihellus Islandorum:^ ''They found there men's 
habitations both east and west in the land [i.e., in both 
the Eastern and Western settlements] both broken cayaks and 
stone-smithery, whereby it may be seen that the same kind of 
folk had been there as they which inhabited Vinland, and whom 
the men of Greenland [i.e., the explorers] called Skrellings." 

A sort of negative corroboration of this is offered by a work 
of high rank, the famous Speculum Regale, written in Old 
Norse in Norway in the middle of the thirteenth century. It 
contains much trustworthy information on Greenland ; it tells, 
"with bald common sense," of such characteristic things as 
glaciers and northern lights, discusses the question as to 
whether Greenland is an island or a peninsula, tells of exports 
and imports, the climate, the means of subsistence, and espe- 
cially the fauna, hut not one word concerning any natives. More- 
over Ivar Bardsen's account ^ of Greenland, which is entirely 
trustworthy, gives a distinct impression that the colonists did 
not come into conflict with the Eskimos until the fourteenth 
century. 

There is consequently no valid reason for doubting that 
the savages described in the sagas were natives of Vinland 
and Markland. But whether it can ever be satisfactorily 
demonstrated that the Norse explorers came in contact with 
Algonquin, Micmac, or Beothuk Indians, and just where they 
landed, are not matters of essential importance. The incon- 
trovertible facts of the various Norse expeditions are that Leif 
Ericson and Thorfinn Karlsefni are as surely historical char- 
acters as Christopher Columbus, that they visited, in the early 
part of the eleventh century, some part of North America 
where the grape grew, and that in that region the colonists 
found savages, whose hostiUty upset their plans of permanent 
settlement. 

^ See Origines Islandicae, I. 294. 

' See notes 6 and 8 to Papal Letters, p. 71 of this volume. 



12 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

According to the usually accepted chronology, Leif's voy- 
age from Norway to Greenland (during which voyage he found 
Vinland) was made in the year 1000, and Karlsefni's attempt 
at colonization within the decade following. On the basis of 
genealogical records (so often treacherous) some doubt has 
recently been cast on this chronology by Vigfusson, in Origi- 
nes Islandicae ^ (1905). Vigfusson died in 1889, sixteen years 
before the publication of this work. He had no opportunity 
to consider the investigations of Dr. Storm, who accepts with- 
out question the first decade of the eleventh century for the 
Vinland voyages. Nor do Storm's evidences and arguments on 
this point appear in the work as pubHshed. Therefore we are 
obliged to say of Vigfusson 's observations on the chronology 
of the Vinland voyages, that they stand as question-marks 
which call for confirmation. 

We are surprised, moreover, to find that Origines Islandicae 
prints the Flat Island Book story first, apparently on account 
of the belief that this story contains the ' ' truer account of the 
first sighting of the American continent" by Biarni Herjulfson.^ 
It is impossible to believe that this would have been done, if 
the editors (Vigfusson and Powell) had known the results of 
Dr. Storm's work, which is not mentioned. There is, further- 
more, no attempt in the Origines Islandicae to refute or explain 
away an opinion on AM. 557 expressed by the same authori- 
ties, in 1879,^ to the effect that "it is free from grave errors of 
fact which disfigure the latter [the Flat Island Book saga]." 

* See note 1, p. 43. 

^ In other respects the editors speak highly of the saga as found in 
Hauk's Book and AM. 557 : "This saga has never been so well known as the 
other, though it is probably of even higher value. Unlike the other, it has 
the form and style of one of the 'Islendinga Sogor' [the Icelandic sagas 
proper] ; its phrasing is broken, its dialogue is excellent, it contains situa- 
tions of great pathos, such as the beautiful incident at the end of Bearne's 
self-sacrifice, and scenes of high interest, such as that of the Sibyl's prophesy- 
ing in Greenland. . . ." II. 591. 

^ Icelandic Prose Reader (where AM. 557 is printed), notes, p. 377. 



INTRODUCTION 13 

We are almost forced to the conclusion that a hand less cun- 
ning than Vigfusson's has had to do with the unfinished sec- 
tion of the work. 

In regard to the extract from Adam of Bremen, which we 
print, it should be observed that its only importance Hes in 
the fact that it corroborates the Icelandic tradition of a land 
called Vinland, where there were grapes and ''unsown grain," 
and thus serves to strengthen faith in the trustworthiness of 
the saga narrative. The annals and papal letters that follow 
need no further discussion, we think, than that contained in 
the annotations. 

Besides the texts in Icelandic, already described, by Rafn, 
Reeves, Vigfusson and Powell, and Storm, it may be mentioned 
that the Flat Island text is given in Vol. I. of Flateyjar-bok, ed. 
Vigfusson and Unger, Christiania, 1860. There are transla- 
tions of both texts in Beamish, Discovery of North America by 
the Northmen (London, 1841), in Slafter, Voyages of the North- 
men (Boston, 1877), and in De Costa, Pre-Columbian Dis- 
covery of America by the Northmen (Albany, 1901). But most 
of these are confused in arrangement, and the best is that by 
the late Mr. Reeves, which by the kind consent of his represen- 
tatives we are permitted to use in this volume. 

Julius E. Olson. 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE RED 

Also called the Saga of Thorfinn Karlsefni ^ 

The Saga of Eric the Red, also called the Saga of Thorfinn 
Karlsefni and Snorri Thorbrandsson.^ — Olaf was the name of a 
warrior-king, who was called Olaf the White. He was the son 
of King Ingiald, Helgi's son, the son of Olaf, Gudraud's son, 
son of Halfdan Whiteleg, king of the Uplands-men.^ Olaf 
engaged in a Western freebooting expedition and captured 
Dublin in Ireland and the Shire of Dublin, over which he be- 
came king.* He married Aud the Wealthy, daughter of Ketil 
Flatnose, son of Bioni Buna, a famous man of Norway. Their 
son was called Thorstein the Red. Olaf was killed in battle 
in Ireland, and Aud and Thorstein went then to the Hebrides ; 
there Thorstein married Thurid, daughter of Eyvind Easter- 
ling, sister of Helgi the Lean ; they had many children. Thor- 
stein became a warrior-king, and entered into fellowship with 
Earl Sigurd the Mighty, son of Eystein the Rattler. They 
conquered Caithness and Sutherland, Ross and Moray, and 
more than the haK of Scotland. Over these Thorstein became 
king, ere he was betrayed by the Scots, and was slain there 
in battle. Aud was at Caithness when she heard of Thor- 
stein 's death; she thereupon caused a ship to be secretly 
built in the forest, and when she was ready, she sailed out to 
the Orkneys. There she bestowed Groa, Thorstein the Red's 
daughter, in marriage; she was the mother of Grelad, whom 

* The translation that follows, by Arthur Middleton Reeves, is based on 
the text of Hauk's Book, No. 544 of the Arna-Magnaean Collection, collated 
with No. 557 of the same collection. In Origines Islandicae, II. 610, this 
saga is called "The Story of Thorfinn Carlsemne." 

^ The rubrics here given in italics are found in the original manuscript. 
' In eastern Norway. 

* From 853 to 871. 

U 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE RED 15 

Earl Thorfinn, Skull-cleaver, married. After this Aud set 
out to seek Iceland, and had on board her ship twenty free- 
men. Aud arrived in Iceland, and passed the first winter at 
Biamarhofn with her brother, Biom. Aud afterwards took 
possession of all the Dale country between Dbgurdar river 
and Skraumuhlaups river. She lived at Hvamm, and held 
her orisons at Krossholar, where she caused crosses to be 
erected, for she had been baptized and was a devout believer. 
With her there came out [to Iceland] many distinguished men, 
who had been captured in the Western freebooting expedition, 
and were called slaves. Vifil was the name of one of these: 
he was a highborn man, who had been taken captive in the 
Western sea, and was called a slave, before Aud freed him; 
now when Aud gave homesteads to the members of her crew, 
Vifil asked wherefore she gave him no homestead as to the other 
men. Aud rephed, that this should make no difference to him, 
saying, that he would be regarded as a distinguished man 
wherever he was. She gave him Vifilsdal, and there he dwelt. 
He married a woman whose name was . . . ; ^ their sons were 
Thorbiom and Thorgeir. They were men of promise, and grew 
up with their father.^ 

Eric the Red finds Greenland. — There was a man named 
Thorvald; he was a son of Asvald, Ulf's son, Eyxna-Thori's 
son. His son's name was Eric. He and his father went from 
Jaederen ^ to Iceland, on account of manslaughter, and settled 
on Hornstrandir, and dwelt at Drangar. There Thorvald 
died, and Eric then married Thoriiild, a daughter of Jorund, 
Ath's son, and Thorbiorg the Ship-chested, who had been 
married before to Thorbiorn of the Haukadal family. Eric 
then removed from the North, and cleared land in Haukadal, 
and dwelt at Ericsstadir by Vatnshom. Then Eric's thralls 
caused a land-sHde on Valthiof 's farm, Valthiofsstadir. Eyiolf 

* A blank in the original manuscript. 

' This introductory paragraph, giving at the end the ancestry of Gudrid, 
the daughter of Thorbiorn Vifilson and a prominent figure in the Vinland 
voyages, seems to come first on account of the earlier historical allusions that 
it contains. The account of Gudrid is continued in the third paragraph. 

' In southwestern Norway. 



16 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

the Foul, Valthiof's kinsman, slew the thralls near Skeids- 
brekkur above Vatnshorn. For this Eric killed Eyiolf the 
Foul, and he also killed Duelling-Hrafn, at Leikskalar. Geir- 
stein and Odd of Jorva, Eyiolf s kinsmen, conducted the prose- 
cution for the slaying of their kinsmen, and Eric was, in conse- 
quence, banished from Haukadal. He then took possession 
of Brokey and Eyxney, and dwelt at Tradir on Sudrey, the 
first winter. It was at this time that he loaned Thorgestliis 
outer da'is-boards ; ^ Eric afterwards went to Eyxney, and 
dwelt at Ericsstad. He then demanded his outer da'is-boards, 
but did not obtain them. Eric then carried the outer da'is- 
boards away from Breidabolstad, and Thorgest gave chase. 
They came to blows a short distance from the farm of Drangar. 
There two of Thorgest's sons were killed and certain other men 
besides. After this each of them retained a considerable body 
of men with him at his home. Styr gave Eric his support, 
as did also Eyiolf of Sviney, Thorbiorn, Vifil's son, and the sons 
of Thorbrand of Alptafirth; while Thorgest was backed by 
the sons of Thord the Yeller, and Thorgeir of Hitardal, Aslak 
of Langadal and his son, Illugi. Eric and his people were con- 
demned to outlawry at Thorsness-thing. He equipped his 
ship for a voyage, in Ericsvag ; while Eyiolf concealed him in 
Dimunarvag, when Thorgest and his people were searching for 
him among the islands. He said to them, that it was his in- 
tention to go in search of that land which Gunnbiom, son of 
Ulf the Crow, saw when he was driven out of his course, west- 
ward across the main, and discovered Gunnbioms-skerries.^ 
He told them that he would return again to his friends, if he 
should succeed in finding that country. Thorbiorn, and Eyiolf, 
and Styr accompanied Eric out beyond the islands, and they 
parted with the greatest friendliness ; Eric said to them that 
he would render them similar aid, so far as it might lie within 
his power, if they should ever stand in need of his help. Eric 

* Movable planks used in constructing the lock-beds of the sleeping apart- 
ment. They were often beautifully carved, and hence valuable. 

^ An island midway between Iceland and Greenland, discovered in the 
latter part of the ninth century. Gunnbiorn was a Norwegian. This island 
is no longer above the surface. See Fiske, The Discovery of America, p. 242. 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE RED 17 

sailed out to sea from Snaefells-iokul, and arrived at that ice- 
mountain which is called Blacksark, Thence he sailed to the 
southward, that he might ascertain whether there was habitable 
country in that direction. He passed the first winter at 
Ericsey, near the middle of the Western Settlement.^ In the 
following spring he proceeded to Ericsfirth, and selected a site 
there for his homestead. That summer he explored the western 
uninhabited region, remaining there for a long time, and as- 
signing many local names there. The second winter he spent 
at Ericsholms beyond Hvarfsgnipa. But the third summer 
he sailed northward to Snaefell,^ and into Hrafnsfirth. He 
believed then that he had reached the head of Ericsfirth; 
he turned back then, and remained the third winter at 
Ericsey at the mouth of Ericsfirth. The following summer 
he sailed to Iceland, and landed in Breidafirth. He remained 
that winter with Ingolf at Holmlatr. In the spring he and 
Thorgest fought together, and Eric was defeated; after this 
a reconciliation was effected between them. That summer 
Eric set out to colonize the land which he had discovered, 
and which he called Greenland, because, he said, men would 
be the more readily persuaded thither if the land had a good 
name.^ 

^ This should read Eastern Settlement, evidently a clerical error in an 
original manuscript, as both Hauk's Book and AM. 557 reproduce it. There 
were two settlements in Greenland, the Eastern and Western, both, however, 
to the westward of Cape Farewell, and between that cape on the south and 
Disco Island on the north. Ericsey (i.e., Eric's Island) was at the mouth of 
Ericsfirth, near the present Julianshaab. For further details on the geog- 
raphy of these settlements, see Reeves, The Finding of Wineland the Good, 
p. 166, (25), and Fiske, The Discovery of America, I. 158, note. 

^ On the western coast of Greenland, about 70° N. Lat. 

^ The saga up to this point is taken from Landnama-bok, the great Ice- 
landic authority on early genealogy and history. It might well have in- 
cluded one more paragraph (the succeeding one) , which gives an approximate 
date to the colonization of Greenland: "Ari, Thorgil's son, says that that 
summer twenty-five ships sailed to Greenland out of Borgfirth andBroadfirth ; 
but fourteen only reached their destination ; some were driven back, and 
some were lost. This was sixteen [S : fifteen] winters before Christianity 
was legally adopted in Iceland." That is, in about 985, as Christianity was 
accepted in 1000 (or 1001). There is a possible variation of a year in the 
usually accepted date. See Origines Islandicae, I. 369. 



18 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

Concerning Thorhiorn. — Thorgeir, Vifil's son, married, 
and took to wife Arnora, daughter of Einar of Laugarbrekka, 
Sigmund's son, son of Ketil Thistil, who settled Thistilsfirth. 
Einar had another daughter named Hallveig ; she was married 
to Thorbiorn, Vifil's son, who got with her Laugarbrekka- 
land on HelhsvelHr. Thorbiorn moved thither, and became 
a very distinguished man. He was an excellent husbandman, 
and had a great estate. Gudrid was the name of Thorbiorn's 
daughter. She was the most beautiful of her sex, and in every 
respect a very superior woman. There dwelt at Amarstapi 
a man named Orm, whose wife's name was Halldis. Orm 
was a good husbandman, and a great friend of Thorbiorn, and 
Gudrid lived with him for a long time as a foster-daughter. 
There was a man named Thorgeir, who lived at Thorgeirsfell ; 
he was very wealthy and had been manumitted ; he had a son 
named Einar, who was a handsome, well-bred man, and very 
showy in his dress. Einar was engaged in trading-voyages 
from one country to the other, and had prospered in this. He 
always spent his winters alternately either in Iceland or in 
Norway. 

Now it is to be told, that one autumn, when Einar was in 
Iceland, he went with his wares out along Snaefellsness, with 
the intention of selling them. He came to Arnarstapi, and 
Orm invited him to remain with him, and Einar accepted this 
invitation, for there was a strong friendship [between Orm 
and himself]. Einar's wares were carried into a store-house, 
where he unpacked them, and displayed them to Orm and the 
men of his household, and asked Orm to take such of them as 
he liked. Orm accepted this offer, and said that Einar was 
a good merchant, and was greatl}^ favored by fortune. Now, 
while they were busied about the wares, a woman passed be- 
fore the door of the store-house. Einar inquired of Orm: 
"Who was that handsome woman who passed before the door? 
I have never seen her here before." Orm replies: "That is 
Gudrid, my foster-child, the daughter of Thorbiorn of Laugar- 
brekka." "She must be a good match," said Einar ; "has she 
had any suitors ? " Orm replies : "In good sooth she has been 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE BED 19 

courted, friend, nor is she easily to be won, for it is believed 
that both she and her father will be very particular in their 
choice of a husband." ''Be that as it may," quoth Einar, 
''she is a woman to whom I mean to pay my addresses, and I 
would have thee present this matter to her father in my behalf, 
and use every exertion to bring it to a favorable issue, and I 
shall reward thee to the full of my friendship, if I am success- 
ful. It may be that Thorbiorn will regard the connection as 
being to our mutual advantage, for [while] he is a most hon- 
orable man and has a goodly home, his personal effects, I am 
told, are somewhat on the wane ; but neither I nor my father 
are lackmg in lands or chattels, and Thorbiorn would be greatly 
aided thereby, if this match should be brought about." 
"Surely I believe myself to be thy friend," replies Orm, "and 
yet I am by no means disposed to act in this matter, for Thor- 
biorn hath a very haughty spirit, and is moreover a most 
ambitious man." Einar repHed that he wished for nought 
else than that his suit should be broached ; Orm replied, that 
he should have his will. Einar fared again to the South until 
he reached his home. Sometime after this, Thorbiorn had 
an autumn feast, as was his custom, for he was a man of high 
position. Hither came Orm of Aniarstapi, and many other 
of Thorbiorn 's friends. Orm came to speech with Thorbiorn, 
and said, that Einar of Thorgeirsfell had visited him not long 
before, and that he was become a very promising man. Orm 
now makes Imown the proposal of marriage in Einar 's behalf, 
and added that for some persons and for some reasons it might 
be regarded as a very appropriate match: "thou may est 
greatly strengthen thyself thereby, master, by reason of the 
property." Thorbiorn answers: "Little did I expect to hear 
such words from thee, that I should marry my daughter to 
the son of a thrall ; and that, because it seems to thee that my 
means are diminishing, wherefore she shall not remain longer 
with thee since thou deemest so mean a match as this suitable 
for her." Orm afterward returned to his home, and all of the 
invited guests to their respective households, while Gudrid 
remained behind with her father, and tarried at home that 



20 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

winter. But in the spring Thorbiorn gave an entertainment 
to his friends, to which many came, and it was a noble feast, 
and at the banquet Thorbiorn called for silence, and spoke: 
"Here have I passed a goodly lifetime, and have experienced 
the good-will of men toward me, and their affection ; and, me- 
thinks, our relations together have been pleasant ; but now I 
begin to find myself in straitened circumstances, although my 
estate has hitherto been accounted a respectable one. Now 
will I rather abandon my farming, than lose my honor, and 
rather leave the country, than bring disgrace upon my family ; 
wherefore I have now concluded to put that promise to the 
test, which my friend Eric the Red made, when we parted 
company in Breidafirth. It is my present design to go to 
Greenland this summer, if matters fare as I wish." The folk 
were greatly astonished at this plan of Thorbiorn's, for he was 
blessed with many friends, but they were convinced that he 
was so firmly fixed in his purpose, that it would not avail to 
endeavor to dissuade him from it. Thorbiorn bestowed gifts 
upon his guests, after which the feast came to an end, and the 
folk returned to their homes. Thorbiorn sells his lands and 
buys a ship, which was laid up at the mouth of Hraunhofn. 
Thirty persons joined him in the voyage; among these were 
Orm of Arnarstapi, and his wife, and other of Thorbiorn's 
friends, who would not part from him. Then they put to sea. 
When they sailed the weather was favorable, but after they 
came out upon the high-seas the fair wind failed, and there 
came great gales, and they lost their way, and had a very 
tedious voyage that summer. Then illness appeared among 
their people, and Orm and his wife Halldis died, and the half 
of their company. The sea began to run high, and they had a 
very wearisome and wretched voyage in many ways, but ar- 
rived, nevertheless, at Heriolfsness in Greenland, on the very 
eve of winter.^ At Heriolfsness lived a man named Thorkel. 
He was a man of ability and an excellent husbandman. He 
received Thorbiorn and all of his ship's company, and enter- 
tained them well during the winter. At that time there was a 

* "Winter-night-tide" was about the middle of October. 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE RED 21 

season of great dearth in Greenland; those who had been at 
the fisheries had had poor hauls, and some had not returned. 
There was a certain woman there in the settlement, whose 
name was Thorbiorg. She was a prophetess, and was called 
Little Sibyl. She had had nine sisters, all of whom were 
prophetesses, but she was the only one left alive. It was 
Thorbiorg's custom in the winters, to go to entertainments, 
and she was especially sought after at the homes of those who 
were curious to know their fate, or what manner of season 
might be in store for them ; and inasmuch as Thorkel was the 
cliief yeoman in the neighborhood, it was thought to devolve 
upon him to find out when the evil time, which was upon them, 
would cease. Thorkel invited the prophetess to his home, 
and careful preparations were made for her reception, accord- 
ing to the custom which prevailed, when women of her kind 
were to be entertained. A high seat was prepared for her, 
in which a cushion filled with poultry feathers was placed. 
When she came in the evening, with the man who had been 
sent to meet her, she was clad in a dark-blue cloak, fastened 
with a strap, and set with stones quite down to the hem. 
She wore glass beads around her neck, and upon her head a 
black lamb-skin hood, lined with w^hite cat-skin. In her hands 
she carried a staff, upon which there was a knob, which was 
ornamented with brass, and set with stones up about the knob. 
Circling her waist she wore a girdle of touch-wood, and attached 
to it a great skin pouch, in which she kept the charms which 
she used when she was practising her sorcery. She wore upon 
her feet shaggy calf-skin shoes, with long, tough latchets, upon 
the ends of which there were large brass buttons. She had cat- 
skin gloves upon her hands, which were white inside and lined 
with fur. When she entered, all of the folk felt it to be their 
duty to offer her becoming greetings. She received the saluta- 
tions of each individual according as he pleased her. Yeoman 
Thorkel took the sibyl by the hand, and led her to the seat 
which had been made ready for her. Thorkel bade her run 
her eyes over man and beast and home. She had httle to say 
concerning all these. The tables were brought forth in the 



22 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

evening, and it remains to be told what manner of food was 
prepared for the prophetess. A porridge of goat's beestings 
was made for her, and for meat there were dressed the hearts 
of every kind of beast, which could be obtained there. She 
had a brass spoon, and a knife with a handle of walrus tusk, 
with a double hasp of brass around the haft, and from this 
the point was broken. And when the tables were removed, 
Yeoman Thorkel approaches Thorbiorg, and asks how she is 
pleased with the home, and the character of the folk, and how 
speedily she would be likely to become aware of that concerning 
which he had questioned her, and which the people were anxious 
to know. She replied that she could not give an opinion in 
this matter before the morrow, after that she had slept there 
through the night. And on the morrow, when the day was far 
spent, such preparations were made as were necessary to enable 
her to accomplish her soothsaying. She bade them bring her 
those women, who laiew the incantation, which she required to 
work her spells, and which she called Warlocks ; but such women 
were not to be found. Thereupon a search was made through- 
out the house, to see whether any one knew this [incantation]. 
Then says Gudrid : ''Although I am neither skilled in the black 
art nor a sibyl, yet my foster-mother, Halldis, taught me in 
Iceland that spell-song, which she called Warlocks." Thor- 
biorg answered: ''Then art thou wise in season!" Gudrid 
replies: "This is an incantation and ceremony of such a kind, 
that I do not mean to lend it any aid, for that I am a Chris- 
tian woman." Thorbiorg answers : "It might so be that thou 
couldst give thy help to the company here, and still be no worse 
woman than before ; however I leave it with Thorkel to pro- 
vide for my needs." Thorkel now so urged Gudrid, that she 
said she must needs comply with his wishes. The women then 
made a ring round about, while Thorbiorg sat up on the spell- 
dais. Gudrid then sang the song, so sweet and well, that no 
one remembered ever before to have heard the melody sung 
with so fair a voice as this. The sorceress thanked her for the 
song, and said: "She has indeed lured many spirits hither, 
who think it pleasant to hear this song, those who were wont 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE RED 23 

to forsake us hitherto and refuse to submit themselves to us. 
Many things are now revealed to me, which hitherto have been 
hidden, both from me and from others. And I am able to 
announce that this period of famine will not endure longer, 
but the season will mend as spring approaches. The visita- 
tion of disease, which has been so long upon you, will disappear 
sooner than expected. And thee, Gudrid, I shall reward out of 
hand, for the assistance, which thou hast vouchsafed us, since 
the fate in store for thee is now all made manifest to me. Thou 
shalt make a most worthy match here in Greenland, but it 
shall not be of long duration for thee, for thy future path leads 
out to Iceland, and a Hneage both great and goodly shall 
spring from thee, and above thy line brighter rays of light 
shall shine, than I have power clearly to unfold. And now 
fare well and health to thee, my daughter!" After this the 
folk advanced to the sibyl, and each besought information con- 
cerning that about which he was most curious. She was very 
ready in her responses, and little of that which she foretold 
failed of fulfilment. After this they came for her from a 
neighboring farmstead, and she thereupon set out thither. 
Thorbiom was then sent for, since he had not been willing to 
remain at home while such heathen rites were practising. 
The weather improved speedily, when the spring opened, 
even as Thorbiorg had prophesied. Thorbiom equipped his 
ship and sailed away, mi til he arrived at Brattahlid.^ Eric 
received him with open arms, and said that it was well that he 
had come thither. Thorbiom and his household remained 
with him during the winter, while quarters were provided 
for the crew among the farmers. And the following spring 
Erie gave Thorbiom land on Stokkaness, where a goodly 
farmstead was foimded, and there he lived thenceforward. 

Concerning Leif the Lucky and the Introduction of Chris- 
tianity into Greenland. — Eric was married to a woman named 
Thorhild, and had two sons; one of these was named Thor- 
stein, and the other Leif. They were both promising men. 
Thorstein lived at home with his father, and there was not at 
^ The home of Eric the Red, in the Eastern Settlement. 



24 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

that time a man in Greenland who was accounted of so great 
promise as he. Leif had sailed to Norway/ where he was at 
the court of King Olaf Tryggvason. When Leif sailed from 
Greenland, in the summer, they were driven out of their course 
to the Hebrides. It was late before they got fair winds thence, 
and they remained there far into the summer. Leif became 
enamored of a certain woman, whose name was Thorgunna. 
She was a woman of fine family, and Leif observed that she 
was possessed of rare intelligence. When Leif was preparing 
for his departure Thorgunna asked to be permitted to accom- 
pany him, Leif inquired whether she had in this the approval 
of her kinsmen. She replied that she did not care for it. Leif 
responded that he did not deem it the part of wisdom to abduct 
so high-born a woman in a strange country, ''and we so few in 
number." ''It is by no means certain that thou shalt find 
this to be the better decision," said Thorgunna. "I shall put 
it to the proof, notwithstanding," said Leif. "Then I tell 
thee," said Thorgunna, "that I am no longer a lone woman, 
for I am pregnant, and upon thee I charge it. I foresee that 
I shall give birth to a male child. And though thou give this 
no heed, yet will I rear the boy, and send him to thee in Green- 
land, when he shall be fit to take his place with other men. 
And I foresee that thou wilt get as much profit of this son as 
is thy due from this our parting ; moreover, I mean to come to 
Greenland myself before the end comes." Leif gave her a gold 
finger-ring, a Greenland wadmal mantle, and a belt of walrus- 
tusk. This boy came to Greenland, and was called Thorgils. 
Leif acknowledged his paternity, and some men will have it 
that this Thorgils came to Iceland in the summer before the 
Froda-wonder.^ However, this Thorgils was afterwards in 
Greenland, and there seemed to be something not altogether 
natural about him before the end came. Leif and his com- 

' This was evidently the first time that the voyage from Greenland to 
Norway was accomplished without going by way of Iceland, and was a 
remarkable achievement. The aim was evidently to avoid the dangerous 
passage between Greenland and Iceland. 

' A reference to some strange happenings in the winter of 1000-1001 
3.t the Icelandic farmstead Froda, as related in the Eyrbyggja Saga. 



THE SAGA OF EEIC THE RED 25 

panions sailed away from the Hebrides, and arrived in Nor- 
way in the autumn.^ Leif went to the court of King Olaf 
Tryggvason.^ He was well received by the king, who felt 
that he could see that Leif was a man of great accomplish- 
ments. Upon one occasion the king came to speech with Leif, 
and asks him, ''Is it thy purpose to sail to Greenland in the 
summer?" ''It is my purpose," said Leif, "if it be your will." 
"I believe it will be well," answers the king, "and thither thou 
shalt go upon my errand, to proclaim Christianity there." 
Leif replied that the king should decide, but gave it as his be- 
lief that it would be difficult to carry this mission to a success- 
ful issue in Greenland. The king replied that he knew of no 
man who would be better fitted for this undertaking, "and 
in thy hands the cause will surely prosper." "This can only 
be," said Leif, "if I enjoy the grace of your protection." Leif 
put to sea when his ship was ready for the voyage. For a 
long time he was tossed about upon the ocean, and came upon 
lands of which he had previously had no knowledge. There 
were self-sown wheat ^ fields and vines growing there. There 
were also those trees there which are called "mausur,"^ 
and of all these they took specimens. Some of the timbers 
were so large that they were used in building. Leif found men 
upon a wreck, and took them home with him, and procured 
quarters for them all during the winter. In this wise he showed 

^ Of the year 999. See next note. 

2 King Olaf ruled from 995 to 1000. He fell at the battle of Svolder 
(in the Baltic) in September, 1000. It was in the same year that Leif started 
out as the King's missionary to Greenland. See p. 43, note 1. 

^ A wild cereal of some sort. Fiske is convinced that it was Indian corn, 
while Storm thinks it was wild rice, contending with much force that Indian 
corn was a product entirely unknown to the explorers, and that they could 
not by any possibility have confused it with wheat, even if they had found 
it. There is, moreover, no indication in this saga that they found cultivated 
fields. Storm cites Sir William Alexander, Encouragement to Colonies 
(1624), who, in speaking of the products of Nova Scotia, refers, among other 
things, to "some eares of wheate, barly and rie growing there wild." He 
also cites Jacques Cartier, who, in 1534, found in New Brunswick "wild grain 
like rye, which looked as though it had been sowed and cultivated." See 
Reeves, p. 174, (50). 

* Supposed to be maple. 



26 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

his nobleness and goodness, since he introduced Christianity 
into the country, and saved the men from the wreck ; and he 
was called Leif the Lucky ever after. Leif landed in Erics- 
firth, and then went home to Brattahlid ; he was well received 
by every one. He soon proclaimed Christianity throughout 
the land, and the Catholic faith, and announced King Olaf 
Tryggvason's messages to the people, telling them how much 
excellence and how great glory accompanied this faith. Eric 
was slow in forming the determination to forsake his old belief, 
but Thiodhild ^ embraced the faith promptly, and caused a 
church to be built at some distance from the house. This 
building was called Thiodhild's Church, and there she and those 
persons who had accepted Christianity, and they were many, 
were wont to offer their prayers. Thiodhild would not have 
intercourse with Eric after that she had received the faith, 
whereat he was sorely vexed. 

At this time there began to be much talk about a voyage 
of exploration to that country which Leif had discovered. 
The leader of this expedition was Thorstein Ericsson, who was 
a good man and an intelligent, and blessed with many friends. 
Eric was hkewise invited to join them, for the men believed 
that his luck and foresight would be of great furtherance. 
He was slow in deciding, but did not say nay, when his friends 
besought him to go. They thereupon equipped that ship in 
which Thorbiorn had come out, and twenty men were selected 
for the expedition. They took Uttle cargo with them, nought 
else save their weapons and provisions. On that morning 
when Eric set out from his home he took with him a little 
chest containing gold and silver ; he hid this treasure, and then 
went his way. He had proceeded but a short distance, how- 
ever, when he fell from his horse and broke his ribs and dis- 
located his shoulder, whereat he cried "Ai, ai!" By reason 
of this accident he sent his wife word that she should procure 
the treasure which he had concealed, for to the hiding of the 
treasure he attributed his misfortune. Thereafter they sailed 
cheerily out of Ericsfirth in high spirits over their plan. They 

* Also called Thorhild, 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE RED 27 

were long tossed about upon the ocean, and could not lay the 
course they wished. They came in sight of Iceland, and like- 
wise saw birds from the Irish coast/ Their ship was, in sooth, 
driven hither and thither over the sea. In the autumn they 
turned back, worn out by toil, and exposure to the elements, 
and exhausted by their labors, and arrived at Ericsfirth at 
the very beginning of winter. Then said Eric, "More cheerful 
were we in the summer, when we put out of the firth, but we 
still Hve, and it might have been much worse." Thorstein 
answers, "It will be a princely deed to endeavor to look well 
after the wants of all these men who are now in need, and to 
make provision for them during the winter." Eric answers, 
"It is ever true, as it is said, that 'it is never clear ere the 
answer comes,' and so it must be here. We will act now upon 
thy counsel in this matter." All of the men, who were not 
otherwise provided for, accompanied the father and son. 
They landed thereupon, and went home to Brattahhd, where 
they remained throughout the winter. 

Thorstein Ericsson loeds Gtidrid; Apparitions. — Now it 
is to be told that Thorstein Ericsson sought Gudrid, Thor- 
biorn's daughter, in wedlock. His suit was favorably received 
both by herself and by her father, and it was decided that 
Thorstein should marry Gudrid, and the wedding was held at 
Brattahlid in the autunm. The entertainment sped well, 
and was very numerously attended, Thorstein had a home 
in the Western Settlement at a certain farmstead, which is 
called Lysufirth. A half interest in this property belonged 
to a man named Thorstein, whose wife's name was Sigrid. 
Thorstein went to Lysufirth, in the autumn, to his namesake, 
and Gudrid bore him company. They were well received, 
and remained there during the winter. It came to pass that 
sickness appeared in their home early in the winter. Gard 
was the name of the overseer there ; he had few friends ; he fell 
sick first, and died. It was not long before one after another 
fell sick and died. Then Thorstein, Eric's son, fell sick, 
and Sigrid, the wife of Thorstein, his namesake ; and one even- 

^ That is, were near Ireland. 



28 VOYAGES OF THE NOKTHMEN 

ing Sigrid wished to go to the house, which stood over against 
the outer-door, and Gudrid accompanied her ; they were facing 
the outer-door when Sigrid uttered a loud cry. ''We have 
acted thoughtlessly," exclaimed Gudrid, ''yet thou needest 
not cry, though the cold strikes thee; let us go in again as 
speedily as possible." Sigrid answers, "Tliis may not be in 
this present plight. All of the dead folk are drawn up here 
before the door now ; among them I see thy husband, Thor- 
stein, and I can see myself there, and it is distressful to look 
upon." But directly this had passed she exclaimed, "Let us 
go now, Gudrid; I no longer see the band!" The overseer 
had vanished from her sight, whereas it had seemed to her be- 
fore that he stood with a whip in his hand and made as if he 
would scourge the flock. So they went in, and ere the morning 
came she was dead, and a coffin was made ready for the corpse ; 
and that same day the men planned to row out to fish, and 
Thorstein accompanied them to the landing-place, and in the 
twilight he went down to see their catch. Thorstein, Eric's 
son, then sent word to his namesake that he should come to 
him, saying that all was not as it should be there, for the house- 
wife was endeavoring to rise to her feet, and wished to get in 
under the clothes beside him, and when he entered the room 
she was come up on the edge of the bed. He thereupon seized 
her hands and held a pole-axe ^ before her breast. Thorstein, 
Eric's son, died before night-fall. Thorstein, the master of the 
house, bade Gudrid lie down and sleep, saying that he would 
keep watch over the bodies during the night; thus she did, 
and early in the night, Thorstein, Eric's son, sat up and spoke 
saying that he desired Gudrid to be called thither, for that it 
was his wish to speak to her: "It is God's will that this hour 
be given me for my own and for the betterment of my condi- 
tion." Thorstein, the master, went in search of Gudrid, and 
waked her, and bade her cross herself, and pray God to help 
her; "Thorstein, Eric's son, has said to me that he wishes to 
see thee ; thou must take counsel with thyself now, what thou 

' The display of an axe seems to have been thought efficacious in laying 
fetches. See Reeves, p. 171, (39), citing a passage from another saga. 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE EED 29 

wilt do, for I have no advice to give thee." She repHes, "It 
may be that this is intended to be one of those incidents which 
shall afterward be held in remembrance, this strange event, 
and it is my trust that God will keep watch over me ; where- 
fore, under God's mercy, I shall venture to him and learn 
what it is that he would say, for I may not escape this if it 
be designed to brmg me harm. I will do this, lest he go fur- 
ther, for it is my behef that the matter is a grave one." So 
Gudrid went and drew near to Thorstein, and he seemed to her 
to be weeping. He spoke a few words in her ear, in a low tone, 
so that she alone could hear them ; but this he said so that all 
could hear, that those persons would be blessed who kept well 
the faith, and that it carried with it all help and consolation, 
and yet many there were, said he, who kept it but ill. ''This 
is no proper usage which has obtained here in Greenland since 
Christianity was introduced here, to inter men in unconsecrated 
earth, with nought but a brief funeral service. It is my wish 
that I be conveyed to the church, together with the others 
who have died here ; Gard, however, I would have you burn 
upon a pyre, as speedily as possible, since he has been the cause 
of all of the apparitions which have been seen here during the 
winter." He spoke to her also of her own destiny, and said that 
she had a notable future in store for her, but he bade her be- 
ware of marrying any Greenlander ; he directed her also to give 
their property to the church and to the poor, and then sank 
down again a second time. It had been the custom in Green- 
land, after Christianity was introduced there, to bury persons 
on the farmsteads where they died, in unconsecrated earth ; a 
pole was erected in the ground, touching the breast of the dead, 
and subsequently, when the priests came thither, the pole was 
withdra"\vn and holy water poured in [the orifice], and the fu- 
neral service held there, although it might be long thereafter. 
The bodies of the dead were conveyed to the church at Erics- 
firth, and the funeral services held there by the clergy. Thor- 
biorn died soon after this, and all of his property then passed 
into Guclrid's possession. Eric took her to his home and care- 
fully looked after her affairs. 



30 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

Concerning Thord of Hofdi. — There was a man named 
Thord, who hved at Hofdi on Hofdi-strands. He married 
Fridgerd, daughter of Thori the Loiterer and Fridgerd, daugh- 
ter of Kiarval the King of the Irish. Thord was a son of Biom 
Chestbutter, son of Thorvald Spine, Asleik's son, the son of 
Biom Iron-side, the son of Ragnar Shaggy-breeks. They had 
a son named Snorri. He married Thorhild Ptarmigan, daugh- 
ter of Thord the Yeller. Their son was Thord Horse-head. 
Thorfinn Karlsefni ^ was tlie name of Thord's son. Thor- 
finn's mother's name was Thorunn. Thorfinn was engaged 
in trading voyages, and was reputed to be a successful mer- 
chant. One summer Karlsefni equipped his ship, with the 
intention of sailing to Greenland. Snorri, Thorbrand's son, 
of Alptafirth accompanied him, and there were forty men on 
board the ship with them. There was a man named Biarni, 
Grimolf's son, a man from Breidafirth, and another named 
Thorhall, Gamh's son, an East-firth man. They equipped their 
ship, the same summer as Karlsefni, with the intention of 
making a voyage to Greenland; they had also forty men 
in their ship. When they were ready to sail, the two ships 
put to sea together. It has not been recorded how long a 
voyage they had ; but it is to be told, that both of the ships 
arrived at Ericsfirth in the autumn. Eric and other of the 
inhabitants of the country rode to the ships, and a goodly trade 
was soon established between them. Gudrid was requested 
by the skippers to take such of their wares as she wished, wliile 
Eric, on his part, showed great munificence in return, in that 
he extended an invitation to both crews to accompany him 
home for winter quarters at Brattahlid. The merchants ac- 
cepted this invitation, and went with Eric. Their wares were 
then conveyed to Brattahlid ; nor was there lack there of good 
and commodious store-houses, in which to keep them; nor 
was there wanting much of that, which they needed, and the 
merchants were well pleased with their entertainment at Eric's 

^ Thorfinn Karlsefni, the explorer of the Vinland expeditions, was of 
excellent family. His lineage is given at greater length in the Landnama- 
bok (Book of Settlements). 



THE SAGA OF EKIC THE RED 31 

home during that winter. Now as it drew toward Yule, Eric 
became very taciturn, and less cheerful than had been his wont. 
On one occasion Karlsefni entered into conversation with Eric, 
and said: "Hast thou aught weighing upon thee, Eric? The 
folk have remarked, that thou art somewhat more silent than 
thou hast been hitherto. Thou hast entertained us with great 
hberahty, and it behooves us to make such return as may He 
witliin our power. Do thou now but make known the cause of 
thy melancholy." Eric answers: "Ye accept hospitaUty 
gracefully, and in manly wise, and I am not pleased that ye 
should be the sufferers by reason of our intercourse; rather 
am I troubled at the thought, that it should be given out else- 
where, that ye have never passed a worse Yule than this, now 
drawing nigh, when Eric the Red was your host at Brattahlid 
in Greenland." "There shall be no cause for that," repHes 
Karlsefni, "we have malt, and meal, and corn in our ships, 
and you are welcome to take of these whatsoever you wish, 
and to provide as liberal an entertainment as seems fitting to 
you." Eric accepts this offer, and preparations were made 
for the Yule feast, and it was so sumptuous, that it seemed to 
the people they had scarcely ever seen so grand an entertain- 
ment before. And after Yule, Karlsefni broached the subject 
of a marriage with Gudrid to Eric, for he assumed that with 
him rested the right to bestow her hand in marriage. Eric 
answers favorably, and says, that she would accomplish the 
fate in store for her, adding that he had heard only good 
reports of him. And, not to prolong this, the result was, that 
Thorfinn was betrothed to Thurid,^ and the banquet was 
augmented, and their wedding was celebrated ; and this befell 
at Brattahlid during the winter. 

Beginning of the Wineland Voyages. — About this time there 
began to be much talk at Brattahlid, to the effect that Wineland 
the Good should be explored, for, it was said, that country 
must be possessed of many goodly qualities. And so it came 
to pass, that Karlsefni and Snorri fitted out their ship, for the 
purpose of going in search of that country in the spring. Biarni 

^ Usually called Gudrid. 



32 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

and Thorhall joined the expedition with their ship, and the 
men who had borne them company. There was a man named 
Thorvard; he was wedded to Freydis, a natural daughter of 
Eric the Red. He also accompanied them, together with 
Thorvald, Eric's son, and Thorhall, who was called the Hunts- 
man. He had been for a long time with Eric as his hunter 
and fisherman during the summer, and as his steward during 
the winter. Thorhall was stout and swarthy, and of giant 
stature ; he was a man of few words, though given to abusive 
language, when he did speak, and he ever incited Eric to evil. 
He was a poor Christian ; he had a wide Imowledge of the un- 
settled regions. He was on the same ship with Thorvard 
and Thorvald. They had that ship which Thorbiorn had 
brought out. They had in all one hundred and sixty men, 
when they sailed to the Western Settlement,^ and thence to 
Bear Island. Thence they bore away to the southward two 
''doegr." ^ Then they saw land, and launched a boat, and ex- 
plored the land, and found there large flat stones [hellur], 
and many of these were twelve ells wide; there were many 
Arctic foxes there. They gave a name to the country, and 
called it Helluland [the land of flat stones]. Then they sailed 
with northerly winds two ''doegr," and land then lay before 
them, and upon it was a great wood and many wild beasts; 
an island lay off the land to the south-east, and there they 
found a bear, and they called this Blarney [Bear Island], 
while the land where the wood was they called Markland 
[Forest-land]. Thence they sailed southward along the land 
for a long time, and came to a cape; the land lay upon the 
starboard; there were long strands and sandy banks there. 
They rowed to the land and found upon the cape there the 

' There is doubt as to why the expedition sailed northwest to the Western 
Settlement. Possibly Thorfinn desired to make a different start than Thor- 
stein, whose expedition was a failure. See Reeves, p. 172, (45). 

^ Doegr was a period of twelve hours. Reeves quotes the following from 
an old Icelandic work : "In the day there are two doegr; in the doegr twelve 
hours." A doegr' s sailing is estimated to have been about one hundred miles. 
There is evidently a clerical error in this passage after the number of days' 
sailing. The words for "two" and "seven" are very similar in old Norse. 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE RED 33 

keel of a ship, and they called it there Kialames [Keelness] ; 
they also called the strands Furdustrandir [Wonder-strands], 
because they were so long to sail by/ Then the country be- 
came mdented with bays, and they steered their ships into a 
bay. It was when Leif was with King Olaf Tryggvason, and he 
bade him proclaim Christianity to Greenland, that the king 
gave him two Gaels ; the man's name was Haki, and the wom- 
an's Haekia. The king advised Leif to have recourse to these 
people, if he should stand in need of fleetness, for they were 
swifter than deer. Eric and Leif had tendered Karlsefni 
the services of this couple. Now when they had sailed past 
Wonder-strands, they put the Gaels ashore, and directed them 
to run to the southward, and investigate the nature of the 
country, and return again before the end of the third half-day. 
They were each clad in a garment, which they called ''kiafal," ^ 
which was so fashioned, that it had a hood at the top, was open 
at the sides, was sleeveless, and was fastened between the legs 
with buttons and loops, while elsewhere they were naked. 
Karlsefni and his companions cast anchor, and lay there dur- 
ing their absence; and when they came again, one of them 
carried a bunch of grapes, and the other an ear of new-sown 
wheat. They went on board the ship, whereupon Karlsefni 
and his followers held on their way, until they came to where 
the coast was indented with bays. They stood into a bay 
with their ships. There was an island out at the mouth of 
the bay, about which there were strong currents, wherefore 
they called it Straumey [Stream Isle]. There were so many 
birds ^ there, that it was scarcely possible to step between 

^ The language of the vellum AM. 557 is somewhat different in this and 
the previous sentence. It does not say that "they sailed southward along 
the land for a long time, and came to a cape," but, "when two doegr had 
elapsed, they descried land, and they sailed off this land ; there was a cape 
to which they came. They beat into the wind along this coast, having the 
land upon the starboard side. This was a bleak coast, with long and sandy 
shores. They went ashore in boats, and found the keel of a ship, so they 
called it Keelness there ; they likewise gave a name to the strands and called 
them Wonderstrands, because they were long to sail by." 

^ AM. 557 says hiafal. Neither word has been identified. 

^ Hauk's Book says "eider-ducks." 
J) 



34 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

the eggs. They sailed through the firth, and called it Straum- 
fiord [Streamfirth], and carried their cargoes ashore from the 
ships, and established themselves there. They had brought 
with them all kinds of hve-stock. It was a fine country there. 
There were mountains thereabouts. They occupied themselves 
exclusively with the exploration of the country. They re- 
mained there during the winter, and they had taken no thought 
for this during the summer. The fishing began to fail, and 
they began to fall short of food. Then Thorhall the Huntsman 
disappeared. They had already prayed to God for food, but 
it did not come as promptly as their necessities seemed to de- 
mand. They searched for Thorhall for three half-days, 
and found him on a projecting crag. He was lying there, 
and looking up at the sky, with mouth and nostrils agape, 
and mumbling something. They asked him why he had gone 
thither ; he replied, that this did not concern any one. They 
asked him then to go home with them, and he did so. Soon 
after this a whale appeared there, and they captured it, and 
flensed it, and no one could tell what manner of whale it was ; 
and when the cooks had prepared it, they ate of it, and were all 
made ill by it. Then Thorhall, approaching them, says: 
''Did not the Red-beard ^ prove more helpful than your Christ ? 
This is my reward for the verses which I composed to Thor, 
the Trustworthy; seldom has he failed me." When the peo- 
ple heard this, they cast the whale down into the sea, and made 
their appeals to God. The weather then improved, and they 
could now row out to fish, and thenceforward they had no lack 
of provisions, for they could hunt game on the land, gather eggs 
on the island, and catch fish from the sea. 

Concerning Karlsefni and Thorhall. — It is said, that Thor- 
hall wished to sail to the northward beyond Wonder-strands, 
in search of Wineland, while Karlsefni desired to proceed to 
the southward, off the coast. Thorhall prepared for his voy- 
age out below the island, having only nine men in his party, 
for all of the remainder of the company went with Karlsefni. 

» The god Thor. 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE RED 35 

And one day when Thorhall was carrying water aboard his 
ship, and was drinking, he recited this ditty : ^ 

When I came, these brave men told me, 

Here the best of drink I'd get, 
Now with water-pail behold me, — 

Wine and I are strangers yet. 
Stooping at the spring, I've tested 

All the wine this land affords; 
Of its vaunted charms divested. 

Poor indeed are its rewards. 

And when they were ready, they hoisted sail; whereupon 
Thorhall recited this ditty : ^ 

Comrades, let us now be faring 

Homeward to our own again ! 
Let us try the sea-steed's daring. 

Give the chafing courser rein. 
Those who will may bide in quiet, 

Let them praise their chosen land, 
Feasting on a whale-steak diet. 

In their home by Wonder-strand. 

Then they sailed away to the northward past Wonder-strands 
and Keelness, intending to cruise to the westward around the 
cape. They encountered westerly gales, and were driven 
ashore in Ireland,^ where they were grievously maltreated and 
thrown into slavery. There Thorhall lost his hfe, according to 
that which traders have related. 

It is now to be told of Karlsefni, that he cruised southward 
off the coast, with Snorri and Biarni, and their people. They 

* The prose sense is: "Men promised me, when I came hither, that I 
should have the best of drink ; it behooves me before all to blame the land. 
See, oh, man ! how I must raise the pail ; instead of drinking wine, I have to 
stoop to the spring" (Reeves). 

^ The prose sense is : " Let us return to our countrymen, leaving those 
who like the country here, to cook their whale on Wonder-strand." From 
an archaic form in these lines it is apparent that they are older than either 
of the vellums, and must have been composed at least a century before Hauk's 
Book was written ; they may well be much older than the beginning of the 
thirteenth century (Reeves). The antiquity of the verses of the saga is 
also attested by a certain metrical irregularity, as in poetry of the tenth 
and beginning of the eleventh centuries (Storm). 

' In the next sentence the authority for this doubtful statement seems 
to be placed upon "traders." 



36 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

sailed for a long time, and until they came at last to a river, 
which flowed down from the land into a lake, and so into the 
sea. There were great bars at the mouth of the river, so 
that it could only be entered at the height of the flood-tide. 
Karlsefni and his men sailed into the mouth of the river, and 
called it there Hop [a small land-locked bay]. They found 
self-sown wheat-fields on the land there, wherever there were 
hollows, and wherever there was hilly ground, there were vines. ^ 
Every brook there was full of fish. They dug pits, on the shore 
where the tide rose highest, and when the tide fell, there were 
halibut in the pits. There were great numbers of wild ani- 
mals of all kinds in the woods. They remained there half a 
month, and enjoyed themselves, and kept no watch. They had 
their hve-stock with them. Now one morning early, when 
they looked about them, they saw a great number of skin- 
canoes,^ and staves were brandished from the boats, with a 
noise like flails, and they were revolved in the same direction 
in which the sun moves. Then said Karlsefni: "What may 
this betoken?" Snorri, Thorbrand's son, answers him: 
''It may be, that this is a signal of peace, wherefore let us take 
a white shield and display it." And thus they did. There- 
upon the strangers rowed toward them, and went upon the 
land, marvelUng at those whom they saw before them. They 
were swarthy men,^ and ill-looking, and the hair of their heads 
was ugly. They had great eyes,^ and were broad of cheek. 

* Note the word "hollows" with reference to the contention that "wild 
wheat" is "wild rice." See p. 25, note 3. 

^ "Skin-canoes," or kayaks, lead one to think of Eskimos. Both Storm 
and Fiske think that the authorities of the saga-writer may have failed to 
distinguish between bark-canoes and skin-canoes. 

^ The vellum AM. 557 says "small men" instead of "swarthy men." 
The explorers called them Skroelingar, a disparaging epithet, meaning inferior 
people, i.e., savages. The name is applied, in saga literature, to the natives of 
Greenland as well as to the natives of Vinland. Storm thinks the latter 
were the Micmac Indians of Nova Scotia. 

* " Lescarbot, in his minute and elaborate description of the Micmacs of 
Acadia, speaks with some emphasis of their large eyes. Dr. Storm quite 
reasonably suggests that the Norse expression may refer to the size not of the 
eyeball but of the eye-socket, which in the Indian face is apt to be large." 
Fiske, The Discovery of America, p. 190. 



THE SAGA OF EEIC THE EED 37 

They tarried there for a time looking curiously at the people 
they saw before them, and then rowed away, and to the south- 
ward aromid the point. 

Karlsefni and his followers had built their huts above the 
lake, some of their dwellings being near the lake, and others 
farther away. Now they remained there that winter. No 
snow came there, and all of their live-stock hved by grazing.^ 
And when spring opened, they discovered, early one morning, 
a great number of skin-canoes, rowing from the south past 
the cape, so numerous, that it looked as if coals had been 
scattered broadcast out before the bay; and on every boat 
staves were waved. Thereupon Karlsefni and his people dis- 
played their shields, and when they came together, they began 
to barter with each other. Especially did the strangers 
wish to buy red cloth, for which they offered in exchange pel- 
tries and quite gray skins. They also desired to buy swords 
and spears, but Karlsefni and Snorri forbade this. In exchange 
for perfect unsullied skins, the Skrellings would take red stuff 
a span in length, which they would bind around their heads. 
So their trade went on for a time, until Karlsefni and his peo- 
ple began to grow short of cloth, when they divided it into such 
narrow pieces, that it was not more than a finger's breadth 
wide, but the Skrellings still continued to give just as much 
for this as before, or more. 

It so happened, that a bull,^ wliich belonged to Karlsefni 
and his people, ran out from the woods, bellowing loudly. 
This so terrified the Skrellings, that they sped out to their 
canoes, and then rowed away to the southward along the coast. 
For thi'ee entire weeks nothing more was seen of them. At 

^ This would seem to place Vinland farther south than Nova Scotia, but 
not necessarily. Storm cites the Frenchman Denys, who as colonist and 
governor of Nova Scotia passed a number of years there, and in a work pub- 
lished in 1672 says of the inner tracts of the land east of Port Royal that 
"there is very little snow in the country, and very little winter." He adds : 
"It is certain that the country produces the vine naturally, — that it bears 
a grape that ripens perfectly, the berry as large as the muscat." 

^ An animal unknown to the natives. As Fiske suggests, "It is the 
unknown that frightens." 



38 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

the end of this time, however, a great multitude of SkreUing 
boats was discovered approaching from the south, as if a 
stream were pouring down, and all of their staves were waved 
in a direction contrary to the course of the sun, and the Skrel- 
lings were all uttering loud cries. Thereupon Karlsefni and 
his men took red shields and displayed them. The Skrellings 
sprang from their boats, and they met then, and fought to- 
gether. There was a fierce shower of missiles, for the Skrel- 
lings had war-slings. Karlsefni and Snorri observed, that the 
Skrellings raised up on a pole a great ball-shaped body, al- 
most the size of a sheep's belly, and nearly black in color, 
and this they hurled from the pole up on the land above Karls- 
efni's followers, and it made a frightful noise, where it fell. 
Whereat a great fear seized upon Karlsefni, and all his men, 
so that they could think of nought but flight, and of making 
their escape up along the river bank, for it seemed to them, 
that the troop of the Skrellings was rushing towards them from 
every side, and they did not pause, until they came to certain 
jutting crags, where they offered a stout resistance. Freydis 
came out, and seeing that Karlsefni and his men were fleeing, 
she cried: ''Why do ye flee from these wretches, such worthy 
men as ye, when, meseems, ye might slaughter them like cattle. 
Had I but a weapon, methinks, I would fight better than any 
one of you!" They gave no heed to her words. Freydis 
sought to join them, but lagged behind, for she was not hale ; ^ 
she followed them, however, into the forest, while the Skrel- 
lings pursued her; she found a dead man in front of her; 
this was Thorbrand, Snorri 's son, his skull cleft by a flat stone ; 
his naked sword lay beside him ; she took it up, and prepared 
to defend herself with it. The Skrellings then approached her, 
whereupon she stripped down her shift, and slapped her breast 
with the naked sword. At this the Skrellings were terrified 
and ran down to their boats, and rowed away. Karlsefni 
and his companions, however, joined her and praised her valor. 
Two of Karlsefni 's men had fallen, and a great number of the 
SkrelHngs. Karlsefni's party had been overpowered by dint 

* A euphemism for pregnant ; the original is eigi heil. 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE EED 39 

of superior numbers. They now returned to their dwelhngs, 
and bound up their wounds, and weighed carefully what throng 
of men that could have been, which had seemed to descend 
upon them from the land ; it now seemed to them, that there 
could have been but the one party, that which came from the 
boats, and that the other troop must have been an ocular de- 
lusion. The Skrellings, moreover, found a dead man, and an 
axe lay beside him. One of their number picked up the axe, 
and struck at a tree with it, and one after another [they tested 
it], and it seemed to them to be a treasure, and to cut well; 
then one of their number seized it, and hewed at a stone with 
it, so that the axe broke, whereat they concluded that it could 
be of no use, since it would not withstand stone, and they cast 
it away. 

It now seemed clear to Karlsefni and his people, that 
although the country thereabouts was attractive, their Hfe 
would be one of constant dread and turmoil by reason of the 
[hostility of the] inhabitants of the country, so they forthwith 
prepared to leave, and determined to return to their own coun- 
try. They sailed to the northward off the coast, and foimd five 
Skrellings, clad in skin-doublets, lying asleep near the sea. 
There were vessels beside them, containing animal marrow, 
mixed with blood. Karlsefni and his company concluded that 
they must have been banished from their own land. They 
put them to death. They afterwards found a cape, upon which 
there was a great number of animals, and this cape looked as 
if it were one cake of dung, by reason of the animals which 
lay there at night. They now arrived again at Streamfirth, 
where they found great abundance of all those things of which 
they stood in need. Some men say, that Biami and Freydis 
remained behind here with a hundred men, and went no fur- 
ther; while Karlsefni and Snorri proceeded to the southward 
with forty men, tarrying at Hop barely two months, and re- 
turning again the same summer. Karlsefni then set out with 
one ship, in search of Thorhall the Huntsman, but the greater 
part of the company remained behind. They sailed to the 
northward around Keekiess, and then bore to the westward, 



40 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

having land to the larboard/ The country there was a wooded 
wilderness, as far as they could see, with scarcely an open space ; 
and when they had journeyed a considerable distance, a river 
flowed down from the east toward the west. They sailed into 
the mouth of the river, and lay to by the southern bank. 

The Slaying of Thorvald, Eric's son. — It happened one 
morning, that Karlsefni and his companions discovered in an 
open space in the woods above them, a speck, which seemed 
to shine toward them, and they shouted at it : it stirred, and 
it was a Uniped,^ who skipped down to the bank of the river 
by which they were lying. Thorvald, a son of Eric the Red, 
was sitting at the helm, and the Uniped shot an arrow into 
his inwards. Thorvald drew out the arrow, and exclaimed: 
"There is fat around my paunch; we have hit upon a fruitful 
country, and yet we are not like to get much profit of it." 
Thorvald died soon after from this wound. Then the Uniped 
ran away back toward the north. Karlsefni and his men 
pursued him, and saw him from time to time. The last they 
saw of him, he ran down into a creek. Then they turned back ; 
whereupon one of the men recited this ditty : ^ 

Eager, our men, up hill down dell, 

Hunted a Uniped ; 
Hearken, Karlsefni, while they tell 

How swift the quarry fled ! 

Then they sailed away back toward the north, and believed 
they had got sight of the land of the Unipeds ; nor were they 
disposed to risk the lives of their men any longer. They con- 
cluded that the mountains of Hop, and those which they had 

' Thus reaching the western coast of Cape Breton Island and Nova Scotia, 
according to Storm. 

^ The Norse word is Ein-jcetingr, one-footer. The mediaeval belief in a 
country in which there lived a race of unipeds was not unknown in Iceland. 
It has been suggested by Vigfusson that Thorvald being an important per- 
sonage, his death must be adorned in some way. It is a singular fact that 
Jacques Cartier brought back from his Canadian explorations reports of a 
land peopled by a race of one-legged folk. See Reeves, The Finding of 
Wineland, p. 177, (56). 

^ The literal translation is : "The men drove, it is quite true, a one-footer 
down to the shore. The strange man ran hard over the banks. Hearken, 
Karlsefni!" 



THE SAGA OF EEIC THE RED 41 

now found, formed one chain, and this appeared to be so be- 
cause they were about an equal distance removed from Stream- 
firth, in either direction/ They sailed back, and passed the 
third winter at Streamfirth. Then the men began to divide 
into factions, of which the women were the cause ; and those 
who were without wives, endeavored to seize upon the wives 
of those who were married, whence the greatest trouble arose. 
Snorri, Karlsefni's son, was born the first autumn, and he was 
three winters old when they took their departure. When 
they sailed away from Wineland, they had a southerly wind, 
and so came upon Markland, where they found five Skrellings,^ 
of whom- one was bearded, two were women, and two were 
children. Karlsefni and liis people took the boys, but the 
others escaped, and these Skrellings sank down into the earth. 
They bore the lads away with them, and taught them to speak, 
and they were baptized. They said, that their mother's name 
was Vsetilldi, and their father's Uvsegi. They said, that kings 
governed the Skrellings, one of whom was called Avalldamon, 
and the other Valldidida.^ They stated, that there were no 
houses there, and that the people lived in caves or holes. They 
said, that there was a land on the other side over against their 
country, wliich was inhabited by people who wore white gar- 
ments, and yelled loudly, and carried poles before them, to 

' As skilled mariners the explorers were undoubtedly competent to make 
such a deduction as this. If Storm and Dieserud are correct, the explorers 
saw from the north coast of Nova Scotia the same mountains that they had 
seen from the south coast. 

^ The Beothuk Indians of Newfoundland, according to Storm. 

^ Nothing can with certainty be extracted from these names. The 
chances that they were incorrectly recorded are of course great. Storm 
contends that they cannot be Eskimo. Captain Holm of the Danish navy, 
an authority on the Eskimos, says, " It is not impossible that the names may 
have been derived from Eskimo originals." Fiske says, p. 189, note : "There 
is not the slightest reason for supposing that there were any Eskimos south 
of Labrador so late as nine hundred years ago." In this connection Captain 
Holm says: "It appears to me not sufficiently proven that the now extinct 
race on America's east coast, the Beothuk, were Indians. I wish to direct 
attention to the possibility that in the Beothuk we may perhaps have one 
of the transition links between the Indians and the Eskimo." See Reeves, 
p. 177, (57). 



42 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

which rags were attached ; ^ and people believe that this must 
have been Hvitramanna-land [White-men's-land], or Ireland 
the Great.^ Now they arrived in Greenland, and remained 
during the winter with Eric the Red. 

Biarni, Grimolf s son, and his companions were driven out 
into the Atlantic,^ and came into a sea, wliich was filled with 
worms, and their ship began to sink beneath them. They had 
a boat, which had been coated with seal-tar ; this the sea-worm 
does not penetrate. They took their places in this boat, 
and then discovered that it would not hold them all. Then 
said Biarni: "Since the boat will not hold more than half 
of our men, it is my advice, that the men who are to go in the 
boat, be chosen by lot, for this selection must not be made 
according to rank." This seemed to them all such a manly 
offer, that no one opposed it. So they adopted this plan, the 
men casting lots ; and it fell to Biarni to go in the boat, and half 
of the men with him, for it would not hold more. But when 
the men were come into the boat, an Icelander, who was in 
the ship, and who had accompanied Biami from Iceland, said : 
*'Dost thou intend, Biarni, to forsake me here?" ''It must 
be even so," answers Biarni. ''Not such was the promise thou 
gavest my father," he answers, "when I left Iceland with thee, 
that thou wouldst thus part with me, when thou saidst, that 
we should both share the same fate." "So be it, it shall not 
rest thus," answers Biami; "do thou come hither, and I will 
go to the ship, for I see that thou art eager for life." Biarni 
thereupon boarded the ship, and this man entered the boat, 
and they went their way, until they came to Dublin in Ireland, 
and there they told this tale ; now it is the belief of most peo- 

^ The description is clearly suggestive of processions of Christian priests, 
in white vestments, with banners, and singing (Storm). 

^ Vellum AM. 557 has not the words " Ireland the Great." As to "White- 
men's-land " (mentioned also once in the Landnama-hok) , Storm traces its 
quasi-historical origin to the Irish visitation of Iceland prior to the Norse 
settlement. See Studies on the Vineland Voyages, p. 61. The explanation 
is, however, hardly convincing. See Origines Islandicae, Vol. II., p. 625. 

^ AM. 557 says "Iceland's sea" (i.e., between Iceland and Markland), 
and Hauk's Book, "Greenland's sea" (i.e., between Iceland and Greenland). 



THE SAGA OF ERIC THE RED 43 

pie, that Biami and his companions perished in the maggot- 
sea, for they were never heard of afterward. 

Karlsefni and his Wife Thurid's Issue. — The following 
summer Karlsefni sailed to Iceland and Gudrid with him, and 
he went home to Reyniness. His mother believed that he 
had made a poor match, and she was not at home the first 
winter. However, when she became convinced that Gudrid 
was a very superior woman, she returned to her home, and they 
hved happily together. Hallfrid was a daughter of Snorri, 
Karlsefni's son, she was the mother of Bishop Thorlak,^ Ru- 
nolf 's son. They had a son named Thorbiorn, whose daughter's 
name was Thorunn, [she was] Bishop Biorn's ^ mother. Thor- 
geir was the name of a son of Snorri, Karlsefni's son, [he was] 
the father of Ingveld, mother of Bishop Brand the Elder. 
Steinunn was a daughter of Snorri, Karlsefni's son, who mar- 
ried Einar, a son of Grundar-Ketil, a son of Thorvald Crook, 
a son of Thori of Espihol. Their son was Thorstein the Unjust, 
he was the father of Gudrun, who married Jorund of Keldur. 
Their daughter was Halla, the mother of Flosi, the father of 

' Thorlak was born in 1085, consecrated bishop in 1118, and died Feb. 1, 
1133. These dates are definitely known, and are important. "The bishop's 
birth-year being certainly known, one can reckon back, and according to the 
regular allowances, we shall have Hallfrid born about 1060, and her father 
about 1030, in Vinland, and Karlsefni as far back as 1000." Vigfusson in 
Origines Islandicae, Vol. H., p. 592. Vigfusson seeks to corroborate the 
above by other allied lineages. If his deductions are correct, they are 
revolutionary with reference to the generally accepted chronology of the 
Vinland voyages. He is convinced that Leif belongs to an older generation 
than Karlsefni and his wife, and that Leif's declining years coincide with 
Karlsefni's appearance on the scene. The expeditions would then stand in 
the year 1025-1035, or 1030-1040, while Leif may have headed the first 
expedition, say in 1025. And he thinks that various things outside of the 
genealogies point to this. See Introduction, p. 12, of this volume. 

* Biorn was consecrated bishop in 1147, and died in 1162. His successor 
was Bishop Brand "the Elder," who died in 1201. Both Hauk's Book and 
AM. 557 refer to him as "the Elder"; hence the originals could not have 
been written before the accession of the second bishop Brand, which was in 
1263. He died the following year. AM. 557 concludes with the words 
"Bishop Brand the Elder." But in Hauk's Book the genealogical informa- 
tion is carried down to Hauk's own time. He was a descendant of Karls- 
efni and Gudrid, through Snorri, born in Vinland. 



44 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

Valgerd, the mother of Herra Erlend the Stout, the father of 
Herra Hauk the Lawman. Another daughter of Flosi was 
Thordis, the mother of Fru Ingigerd the Mighty. Her daughter 
was Fru Hallbera, Abbess of Reyniness at Stad. Many other 
great people in Iceland are descended from Karlsefni and 
Thurid, who are not mentioned here. God be with us, Amen ! 



THE VINLAND HISTORY OF THE FLAT 
ISLAND BOORi 

A Brief History of Eric the Red.^ — There was a man named 
Thorvald, a son of Osvald, Ulf's son, E5rxna-Thori's son. 
Thorvald and Eric the Red, his son, left Jaederen [in Norway], 
on account of manslaughter, and went to Iceland. At that 
time Iceland was extensively colonized. They first hved 
at Drangar on Horn-strands, and there Thorvald died. Eric 
then married Thorhild, the daughter of Jorund and Thorbiorg 
the Ship-chested, who was then married to Thorbiorn of the 
Haukadal family. Eric then removed from the north, and 
made his home at Ericsstadir by Vatnshom. Eric and 
Thorhild's son was called Leif. 

After the killing of Eyiulf the Foul, and Duelling-Hrafn, 
Eric was banished from Haukadal, and betook himself west- 
ward to Breidafirth, settling in Eyxney at Ericsstadir. He 
loaned his outer da'is-boards to Thorgest, and could not get 
these again when he demanded them. This gave rise to broils 
and battles between himself and Thorgest, as Eric's Saga 
relates. Eric was backed in the dispute by Styr Thorgrims- 
son, Eyiulf of Sviney, the sons of Brand of Alptafirth and Thor- 
biorn Vifilsson, while the Thorgesters were upheld by the sons 
of Thord the Yeller and Thorgeir of Hitardal. Eric was de- 
clared an outlaw at Thorsnessthing. He thereupon equipped 
his ship for a voyage, in Ericsvag, and when he was ready to 
sail, Styr and the others accompanied him out beyond the 
islands. Eric told them, that it was his purpose to go in search 

^ Reeves's translation. In Origines Islandicae, Vol. II., p. 598, this saga 
is called "The Story of the Wineland Voyages, commonly called The Story 
of Eric the Red." 

^ The original word for "Brief History" also means "section," "episode," 
"little story," i.e., extract or abbreviated account. 

45 



46 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

of that country which Gunnbiorn, son of Ulf the Crow, had 
seen, when he was driven westward across the main, at the 
time when he discovered Gunnbiorns-skerries ; he added, 
that he would return to his friends, if he should succeed in 
finding this country. Eric sailed out from Snaefellsiokul, 
and found the land. He gave the name of Midiokul to his 
landfall; this is now called Blacksark. From thence he pro- 
ceeded southward along the coast, in search of habitable land. 
He passed the first winter at Ericsey, near the middle of the 
Eastern Settlement, and the following spring he went to Erics- 
firth, where he selected a dwelling-place. In the summer he 
visited the western uninhabited country, and assigned names 
to many of the localities. The second winter he remained at 
Holmar by Hrafnsgnipa, and the third summer he sailed 
northward to Snsefell, and all the way into Hrafnsfirth ; then 
he said he had reached the head of Ericsfirth. He then re- 
turned and passed the third winter in Ericsey at the mouth of 
Ericsfirth. The next summer he sailed to Iceland, landing in 
Breidafirth. He called the country, which he had discovered, 
Greenland, because, he said, people would be attracted thither, 
if the country had a good name. Eric spent the winter in 
Iceland, and the following summer set out to colonize the coun- 
try. He settled at Brattahlid in Ericsfirth, and learned men 
say, that in this same summer, in which Eric set out to settle 
Greenland, thirty-five ships sailed out of Breidafirth and Bor- 
garfirth; fourteen of these arrived there safely, some were 
driven back and some were lost. This was fifteen years before 
Christianity was legally adopted in Iceland.^ During the same 
summer Bishop Frederick ^ and Thorvald Kodransson went 
abroad [from Iceland]. Of those men, who accompanied Eric 
to Greenland, the following took possession of land there: 
Heriulf, Heriulfsfirth, he dwelt at Heriulfsness ; Ketil, Ketils- 

^ About 985 (983-986). One vellum of the Landnama-bok (Book of 
Settlements) says sixteen, the other fifteen years. 

^ Bishop Frederick was from "Saxland" (Saxony). According to the 
Kristni-Saga he came to Iceland "in the summer when the land had been 
settled one-hundred-and-seven winters," i.e., in 981. He made but little 
headway in preaching Christianity. 



VINLAND HISTORY OF THE FLAT ISLAND BOOK 47 

firth ; Hrafn, Hrafnsfirth ; Solvi, Solvadal ; Helgi Thorbrands- 
son, Alptafirth ; Thorbiom Gleamer, Siglufirth ; Einar, Einars- 
firth; Hafgrim, Hafgrimsfirth and Vatnahverfi ; Amlaug, 
Amlaugsfirth ; while some went to the Western Settlement. 

Leif the Lucky Baptized. — After that sixteen winters had 
lapsed, from the time when Eric the Red went to colonize 
Greenland, Leif, Eric's son, sailed out from Greenland to Nor- 
way. He arrived in Drontheim in the autumn, when King 
Olaf Tryggvason was come down from the north, out of Hala- 
goland. Leif put in to Nidaros with his ship, and set out at 
once to visit the king. King Olaf expounded the faith to him, 
as he did to other heathen men who came to visit him. It 
proved easy for the king to persuade Leif, and he was accord- 
ingly baptized, together with all of his shipmates. Leif re- 
mained throughout the winter with the king, by whom he was 
well entertained. 

Biarni goes in Quest of Greenland. — Heriulf was a son of 
Bard Heriulf sson. He was a kinsman of Ingolf, the first colo- 
nist. Ingolf allotted land to Heriulf between Vag and Rey- 
kianess, and he dwelt at first at Drepstokk. Heriulf's wife's 
name was Thorgerd, and their son, whose name was Biarni, 
was a most promising man. He formed an inclination for 
voyaging while he was still young, and he prospered both in 
property and public esteem. It was his custom to pass his 
winters alternately abroad and with his father. Biarni soon 
became the owner of a trading-ship, and during the last winter 
that he spent in Norway, [his father] Heriulf determined to 
accompany Eric on his voyage to Greenland, and made his 
preparations to give up his farm. Upon the ship with Heriulf 
was a Christian man from the Hebrides, he it was who com- 
posed the Sea-Rollers' Song, which contains this stave : ^ 

Mine adventure to the Meek One, 
Monk-heart-searcher, I commit now; 

He, who heaven's halls doth govern, 
Hold the hawk's-seat ever o'er me ! 

* Hafgerdingar (sea-rollers) are supposed to have been earthquake waves, 
and the lines evidently refer to such tidal-waves caused by an unusually 



48 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

Heriulf settled at Heriulfsness, and was a most distinguished 
man. Eric the Red dwelt at Brattahlid, where he was held in 
the highest esteem, and all men paid him homage. These were 
Eric's children : Leif, Thorvald, and Thorstein, and a daughter 
whose napie was Freydis; she was wedded to a man named 
Thorvard, and they dwelt at Gardar, where the episcopal seat 
now is. She was a very haughty woman, while Thorvard 
was a man of little force of character, and Freydis had been 
wedded to him chiefly because of his wealth. At tljat time the 
people of Greenland were heathen. • / 

Biarni arrived with his ship at Eyrar [in Iceland] in the 
summer of , the same year, in the spring of which his father had 
sailed away. Biarni was much surprised when he heard this 
news, and would not discharge his cargo. His, shipmates in- 
quired of him what he intended to do, and ,h^ replied that it 
was his purpose to keep to his custom, and'nmlve his home 
for the winte^ with his father; "and I will taj* the ship to 
Greenland, if you will bear me company." They all replied 
that they would abide by his decision. Then said Biarni, 
"Our voyage must be regarded as foolhardy, seeing that no 
one of us has ever been in the Greenland Sea." Nevertheless 
they put out to sea when they were equipped for the voyage, 
and sailed for three days, until the land was hidden by the 
water, and then the fair wind died out, and north winds arose, 
and fogs, and they knew not whither they were drifting, and 
thus it lasted for many '^ doegr." Then they saw the sun again, 
and were able to determine the quarters of the heavens; 
they hoisted sail, and sailed that ''dcegr" through before they 
saw land. They discussed among themselves what land it 
could be, and Biarni said that he did not believe that it could 
be Greenland. They asked whether he wished to sail to this 
land or not. ''It is my counsel" [said he], 'Ho sail close to 
the land." They did so, and soon saw that the land was level, 
and covered with woods, and that there were small hillocks 

severe earthquake in the year 986. See Reeves, p. 180, (63). The prose 
sense of the stave is: "I beg the blessed friend of the monks to further our 
voyage. May the Lord of the heavens hold his hand over me." 



VINLAND HISTORY OF THE FLAT ISLAND BOOK 49 

upon it. They left the land on their larboard, and let the sheet 
turn toward the land. They sailed for two ''doegr" before 
they saw another land. They asked whether Biarni thought 
this was Greenland yet. He replied that he did not think 
this any more like Greenland than the former, ''because in 
Greenland there are said to be many great ice-mountains." 
They soon approached this land, and saw that it was a flat 
and wooded country. The fair wind failed them then, and the 
crew took counsel together, and concluded that it would be wise 
to land there, but Biarni would not consent to this. They 
alleged that they were in need of both wood and water. ''Ye 
have no lack of either of these," says Biarni — a course, for- 
sooth, which won him blame among his shipmates. He 
bade them hoist sail, which they did, and turning the prow 
from the land they sailed out upon the high seas, with south- 
westerly gales, for three "doegr," when they saw the third 
land; this land was high and mountainous, with ice-moun- 
tains upon it. They asked Biarni then whether he would land 
there, and he replied that he was not chsposed to do so, "be- 
cause this land does not appear to me to offer any attractions." 
Nor did they lower their sail, but held their course off the land, 
and saw that it was an island. They left this land astern, 
and held out to sea with the same fair wind. The wind waxed 
amain, and Biarni directed them to reef, and not to sail at a 
speed unbefitting their ship and rigging. They sailed now for 
four "doegr," when they saw the fourth land. Again they 
asked Biarni whether he thought this could be Greenland or not. 
Biarni answers, "This is likest Greenland, according to that 
which has been reported to me concerning it, and here we will 
steer to the land." They directed their course thither, and 
landed in the evening, below a cape upon which there was a 
boat, and there, upon this cape, dwelt Heriulf,^ Biarni's father, 
whence the cape took its name, and was afterwards called Her- 

' "Certainly a marvellous coincidence, but it is quite in character with the 
no less surprising accuracy with which the explorers of this history [i.e., the 
Flat Island Book narrative] succeeded in finding ' Leif 's-booths ' in a country 
which was as strange to them as Greenland to Biarni." (Reeves.) 



50 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

iulfsness. Biami now went to his father, gave up his voyag- 
ing, and remained with his father while Heriulf hved, and con- 
tinued to hve there after his father. 

Here begins the Brief History of the Greenlanders. — Next to 
this is now to be told how Biami Heriulfsson came out from 
Greenland on a visit to Earl Eric/ by whom he was well re- 
ceived. Biami gave an account of his travels [upon the occa- 
sion] when he saw the lands, and the people thought that he 
had been lacking in enterprise, since he had no report to give 
concerning these countries, and the fact brought him reproach. 
Biami was appointed one of the Earl's men, and went out to 
Greenland the following summer. There was now much talk 
about voyages of discovery. Leif, the son of Eric the Red, 
of Brattahlid, visited Biami Heriulfsson and bought a ship 
of him, and collected a crew, until they formed altogether a 
company of thirty-five men. Leif invited his father, Eric, 
to become the leader of the expedition, but Eric declined, 
saying that he was then stricken in years, and adding that he 
was less able to endure the exposure of sea-life than he had been. 
Leif replied that he would nevertheless be the one who would 
be most apt to bring good luck, and Eric yielded to Leif's 
solicitation, and rode from home when they were ready to sail. 
When he was but a short distance from the ship, the horse 
which Eric was riding stumbled, and he was thrown from his 
back and wounded his foot, whereupon he exclaimed, "It is 
not designed for me to discover more lands than the one in 
which we are now living, nor can we now continue longer to- 
gether." Eric returned home to Brattahhd, and Leif pursued 
his way to the ship with his companions, thirty-five men ; one 
of the company was a German named Tyrker. They put the 
ship in order, and when they were ready, they sailed out to sea, 
and found first that land which Biami and his ship-mates found 
last. They sailed up to the land and cast anchor, and launched 
a boat and went ashore, and saw no grass there; great ice 
mountains lay inland back from the sea, and it was as a [table- 
land of] flat rock all the way from the sea to the ice moun- 

* Earl Eric ruled in Norway from 1000 to 1015. 



VINLAND HISTORY OF THE FLAT ISLAND BOOK 5JU 

tains, and the country seemed to them to be entirely devoid of 
good quahties. Then said Leif, "It has not come to pass with 
us in regard to this land as with Biami, that we have not gone 
upon it. To this country I will now give a name, and call it 
Helluland." They returned to the ship, put out to sea, and 
found a second land. They sailed again to the land, and came .„. 
to anchor, and launched the boat, and went ashore. This 
was a level wooded land, and there were broad stretches of 
white sand, where they went, and the land was level by the 
sea. Then said Leif, "This land shall have a name after its 
nature, and we will call it Markland." They returned to the 
ship forthwith, and sailed away upon the main with north-east 
wmds, and were out two "doegr" before they sighted land. 
They sailed toward this land, and came to an island which lay 
to the northward off the land. There they went ashore and 
looked about them, the weather being fine, and they observed 
that there was dew upon the grass, and it so happened that they 
touched the dew with their hands, and touched their hands to 
their mouths, and it seemed to them that they had never be- 
fore tasted anything so sweet as this. They went aboard their 
ship again and sailed into a certain sound, which lay between 
the island and a cape, which jutted out from the land on the 
north, and they stood in westering past the cape. At ebb- 
tide there were broad reaches of shallow water there, and they 
ran their ship aground there, and it was a long distance from 
the ship to the ocean ; yet were they so anxious to go ashore 
that they could not wait until the tide should rise under their 
ship, but hastened to the land, where a certain river flows 
out from a lake. As soon as the tide rose beneath their 
ship, however, they took the boat and rowed to the ship, 
which they conveyed up the river, and so into the lake, 
where they cast anchor and carried their hammocks ashore 
from the ship, and built themselves booths there. They 
afterwards determined to establish themselves there for the 
winter, and they accordingly built a large house. There was 
no lack of salmon there either in the river or in the lake, and 
larger salmon than they had ever seen before. The country 



52 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

thereabouts seemed to be possessed of such good quahties that 
cattle would need no fodder there during the winters. There 
was no frost there in the winters, and the grass withered but 
little. The days and nights there were of more nearly equal 
length than in Greenland or Iceland. On the shortest day of 
winter the sun was up between "eyktarstad" and ''dagmala- 
stad." ^ When they had completed their house Leif said to 
his companions, '^I propose now to divide our company into 
two groups, and to set about an exploration of the comitry; 
one half of our party shall remain at home at the house, while 
the other half shall investigate the land, and they must not 
go beyond a point from which they can return home the same 
evening, and are not to separate [from each other,]" Thus 
they did for a time ; Leif himself, by turns, joined the explor- 
ing party or remained behind at the house. Leif was a large 
and powerful man, and of a most imposing bearing, a man of 
sagacity, and a very just man in all things. 

Leif the Lucky finds Men upon a Skerry at Sea. — It was 
discovered one evening that one of their company was missing, 
and this proved to be Tyrker, the German. Leif was sorely 
troubled by this, for Tyrker had lived with Leif and his father 
for a long time, and had been very devoted to Leif, when he 
was a child. Leif severely reprimanded his companions, and 
prepared to go in search of him, taking twelve men with him. 
They had proceeded but a short distance from the house, when 
they were met by Tyrker, whom they received most cordially. 
Leif observed at once that his foster-father was in lively spirits. 
Tyrker had a prominent forehead, restless eyes, small features, 

' These two words designate positions of the sun at two points of time. 
Early commentators got much more definite results from this observation 
than later ones, with scientific assistance, have succeeded in getting. Largely 
on the basis of it, Rafn (in Antiquitates Aniericance) , concluded that Vinland 
was in Rhode Island. Both Storm and Reeves, after detailed investigation, 
declare that it cannot be shown from this passage how far to the south Vin- 
land was located. Captain Phythian, U.S.N., who has given the question 
careful consideration, says : "The data furnished are not sufficiently definite 
to warrant a more positive assertion than that the explorers could not have 
been, when the record was made, farther north than Lat. [say] 49°. " See 
Reeves, p. 181, (66). 



VINLAND HISTORY OF THE FLAT ISLAND BOOK 53 

was diminutive in stature, and rather a sony-looking individual 
withal, but was, nevertheless, a most capable handicraftsman. 
Leif addressed him, and asked: ''Wherefore art thou so be- 
lated, foster-father mine, and astray from the others?" In 
the begimiing Tyrker spoke for some time in German, rolling his 
eyes, and grinning, and they could not understand him ; but 
after a time he addressed them in the Northern tongue: ''I 
did not go much further [than you], and yet I have something 
of novelty to relate. I have found vines and grapes." "Is 
this indeed true, foster-father?" said Leif. ''Of a certainty 
it is true," quoth he, "for I was bom where there is no lack of 
either grapes or vines." They slept the night through, and 
on the morrow Leif said to his shipmates : "We will now divide 
our labors, and each day will either gather grapes or cut vines 
and fell trees, so as to obtain a cargo of these for my ship." 
They acted upon tliis advice, and it is said, that their after-boat 
was filled with grapes. A cargo sufficient for the ship was cut, 
and when the spring came, they made their ship ready, and 
sailed away ; and from its products Leif gave the land a name, 
and called it Wilieland. They sailed out to sea, and had fair 
wmds until they sighted Greenland, and the fells below the 
glaciers; then one of the men spoke up, and said, "Why do 
you steer the ship so much into the wind?" Leif answers: 
*'I have my mind upon my steering, but on other matters 
as well. Do ye not see anything out of the common ?" They 
rephed, that they saw nothing strange. "I do not laiow," 
says Leif, "whether it is a ship or a skerry that I see." Now 
they saw it, and said, that it must be a skerry ; but he was so 
much keener of sight than they, that he was able to discern 
men upon the skerry. "I think it best to tack," says Leif, 
"so that we may draw near to them, that we may be able to 
render them assistance, if they should stand in need of it ; and 
if they should not be peaceably disposed, we shall still have 
better command of the situation than they." They ap- 
proached the skerry, and lowering their sail, cast anchor, and 
launched a second small boat, which they had brought with 
them. Tyrker inquired who was the leader of the party, 



54 VOYAGES OF THE NOETHMEN 

He replied that his name was Thori, and that he was a Norse- 
man; ''but what is thy name?" Leif gave his name. ''Art 
thou a son of Eric the Red of Brattahhd?" says he. Leif 
responded that he was. "It is now my wish," says Leif, 
"to take you all into my ship, and hkewise so much of your 
possessions as the ship will hold." This offer was accepted, 
and [with their ship] thus laden, they held away to Ericsfirth, 
and sailed until they arrived at Brattahlid. Having discharged 
the cargo, Leif invited Thori, with his wife, Gudrid, and three 
others, to make their home with him, and procured quarters 
for the other members of the crew, both for his own and Thori 's 
men. Leif rescued fifteen persons from the skerry. He was 
afterward called Leif the Lucky. Leif had now goodly store 
both of property and honor. There was serious illness that 
winter in Thori 's party, and Thori and a great number of his 
people died. Eric the Red also died that winter. There was 
now much talk about Leif 's Wineland journey, and his brother, 
Thorvald, held that the country had not been sufficiently ex- 
plored. Thereupon Leif said to Thorvald: "If it be thy will, 
brother, thou mayest go to Wineland with my ship, but I wish 
the ship first to fetch the wood, which Thori had upon the 
skerry." And so it was done. 

^' ■ Thorvald goes to Wineland. — Now Thorvald, with the 
advice of his brother, Leif, prepared to make this voyage with 
thirty men. They put their ship in order, and sailed out to 
sea; and there is no account of their voyage before their 
arrival at Leif's-booths in Wineland. They laid up their ship 
there, and remained there quietly during the winter, supplying 
themselves with food by fishing. In the spring, however, 
Thorvald said that they should put their ship in order, and that 
a few men should take the after-boat, and proceed along the 
western coast, and explore [the region] thereabouts during the 
summer. They found it a fair, well-wooded country; it was 
but a short distance from the woods to the sea, and [there were] 
white sands, as well as great numbers of islands and shallows. 
They found neither dwelling of man nor lair of beast ; but in 
one of the westerly islands, they found a wooden building for 



VINLAND HISTOEY OF THE FLAT ISLAND BOOK 55 

the shelter of grain. They found no other trace of human 
handiwork, and they turned back, and arrived at Leif 's-booths 
in the autumn. The following summer Thorvald set out tow- 
ard the east with the ship, and along the northern coast. They 
were met by a high wind off a certain promontory, and were 
driven ashore there, and damaged the keel of their ship, and 
were compelled to remain there for a long time and repair the 
injury to their vessel. Then said Thorvald to his companions : 
''I propose that we raise the keel upon this cape, and call it 
Keelness," and so they did. Then they sailed away, to the 
eastward off the land, and into the mouth of the adjoining 
firth, and to a headland, which projected into the sea there, 
and which was entirely covered with woods. They found an 
anchorage for their ship, and put out the gangway to the land, 
and Thorvald and all of his companions went ashore. ''It 
is a fair region here," said he, ''and here I should like to make 
my home." They then returned to the ship, and discovered on 
the sands, in beyond the headland, three mounds ; they went 
up to these, and saw that they were three skin-canoes, with 
three men under each. They thereupon divided their party, 
and succeeded in seizing all of the men but one, who escaped 
with his canoe. They killed the eight men, and then ascended 
the headland again, and looked about them, and discovered 
within the firth certain hillocks, which they concluded must be 
habitations. They were then so overpowered with sleep 
that they could not keep awake, and all fell into a [heavy] 
slumber, from which they were awakened by the sound of a 
cry uttered above them ; and the words of the cry were these : 
"Awake, Thorvald, thou and all thy company, if thou wouldst 
save thy life ; and board thy ship with all thy men, and sail 
with all speed from the land !" A countless number of skin- 
canoes then advanced toward them from the inner part of the 
firth, whereupon Thorvald exclaimed: "We must put out the 
war-boards, on both sides of the ship, and defend ourselves to 
the best of our ability, but offer little attack." This they did, 
and the Skrellings, after they had shot at them for a time, 
fled precipitately, each as best he could. Thorvald then in- 



56 VOYAGES OF THE NOETHMEN 

quired of his men, whether any of them had been wounded, 
and they informed him that no one of them had received a 
wound. "I have been wounded in my arm-pit," says he; 
'^an arrow flew in between the gunwale and the shield, below 
my arm. Here is the shaft, and it will bring me to my end ! 
I counsel you now to retrace your way with the utmost speed. 
But me ye shall convey to that headland which seemed to 
me to offer so pleasant a dwelling-place; thus it may be ful- 
filled, that the truth sprang to my lips, when I expressed the 
wish to abide there for a time. Ye shall bury me there, and 
place a cross at my head, and another at my feet, and call it 
Crossness for ever after." At that time Christianity had ob- 
tained in Greenland; Eric the Red died, however, before 
[the introduction of] Christianity. 

Thorvald died, and when they had carried out his injunc- 
tions, they took their departure, and rejoined their companions, 
and they told each other of the experiences which had befallen 
them. They remained there during the winter, and gathered 
grapes and wood with which to freight the ship. In the fol- 
lowing spring they returned to Greenland, and arrived with 
their ship in Ericsfirth, where they were able to recount great 
tidings to Leif. 

Thorstein Ericsson dies in the Western Settlement. — In 
the meantime it had come to pass in Greenland, that Thorstein 
of Ericsfirth had married, and taken to wife Gudrid, Thor- 
biorn's daughter, [she] who had been the spouse of Thori 
Eastman,^ as has been already related. Now Thorstein 
Ericsson, being minded to make the voyage to Wineland after 
the body of his brother, Thorvald, equipped the same ship, and 
selected a crew of twenty-five men of good size and strength, 
and taking with him his wife, Gudrid, when all was in readiness, 
they sailed out into the open ocean, and out of sight of land. 
They were driven hither and thither over the sea all that sum- 

^ Evidently an incorrect statement. Landnama-bok, the authority on 
genealogical matters, says: "His son was Thorbiorn, father of Gudrid who 
married Thorstein, son of Eric the Red, and afterwards Thorfinn Karlsefni." 
Thori Eastman (the Norwegian) is not mentioned in the Landnama-bok. 



VINLAND HISTORY OF THE FLAT ISLAND BOOK 57 

mer, and lost all reckoning, and at the end of the first week 
of winter they made the land at Lysufirth in Greenland, in the 
Western Settlement. Thorstein set out in search of quarters 
for his crew, and succeeded in procuring homes for all of his 
shipmates ; but he and his wife were unprovided for, and re- 
mained together upon the ship for two or more days. At this 
time Christianity was still in its infancy in Greenland. It be- 
fell, early one morning, that men came to their tent, and the 
leader inquired who the people were within the tent. Thor- 
stein replies: ''We are twain," says he; ''but who is it who 
asks?" "My name is Thorstein, and I am known as Thor- 
stein the Swarthy, and my errand hither is to offer you two, 
husband and wife, a home with me." Thorstein replied, 
that he would consult with his wife, and she bidding him 
decide, he accepted the invitation. "I will come after you 
on the morrow with a sumpter-horse, for I am not lacking 
in means wherewith to provide for you both, although it will 
be lonely living with me, since there are but two of us, my wife 
and myself, for I, forsooth, am a very hard man to get on with ; 
moreover, my faith is not the same as yours, albeit methinks 
that is the better to which you hold." He returned for them 
on the morrow, with the beast, and they took up their home 
with Thorstein the Swarthy, and were well treated by him. 
Gudrid was a woman of fine presence, and a clever woman, 
and very happy in adapting herself to strangers. 

Early in the winter Thorstein Ericsson's party was visited 
by sickness, and many of his companions died. He caused 
coffins to be made for the bodies of the dead, and had them con- 
veyed to the ship, and bestowed there; "for it is my purpose 
to have all the bodies taken to Ericsfirth in the summer." 
It was not long before illness appeared in Thorstein 's home, 
and his wife, whose name was Grimhild, was first taken sick. 
She was a very vigorous woman, and as strong as a man, but 
the sickness mastered her; and soon thereafter Thorstein 
Ericsson was seized with the illness, and they both lay ill at 
the same time, and Grimhild, Thorstein the Swarthy's wife, 
died, and when she was dead Thorstein went out of the roonj 



58 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

to procure a deal, upon which to lay the corpse. Thereupon 
Gudrid spoke. ''Do not be absent long, Thorstein mine!" 
says she. He repHed, that so it should be. Thorstein Ericsson 
then exclaimed: ''Our house-wife is acting now in a marvel- 
lous fashion, for she is raising herself up on her elbow, and 
stretching out her feet from the side of the bed, and groping 
after her shoes." At that moment Thorstein, the master of 
the house, entered, and Grimhild laid herself down, where- 
withal every timber in the room creaked. Thorstein now 
fashioned a coffin for Grimhild's body, and bore it away, 
and cared for it. He was a big man, and strong, but it called 
for all [his strength], to enable him to remove the corpse from 
the house. The illness grew upon Thorstein Ericsson, and he 
died, whereat his wife, Gudrid, was sorely grieved. They were 
all in the room at the time, and Gudrid was seated upon a 
chair before the bench, upon which her husband, Thorstein, 
was lying. Thorstein, the master of the house, then taking 
Gudrid in his arms [carried her] from the chair, and seated 
himself, with her, upon another bench, over against her hus- 
band's body, and exerted himself in divers ways to console her, 
and endeavored to reassure her, and promised her that he 
would accompany her to Ericsfirth with the body of her hus- 
band, Thorstein, and those of his companions: "I will like- 
wise summon other persons hither," says he, "to attend upon 
thee, and entertain thee." She thanked him. Then Thor- 
stein Ericsson sat up, and exclaimed: "Where is Gudrid?" 
Thrice he repeated the question, but Gudrid made no response. 
She then asked Thorstein, the master, "Shall I give answer to 
his question, or not?" Thorstein, the master, bade her make 
no reply, and he then crossed the floor, and seated himself 
upon the chair, with Gudrid in his lap, and spoke, saying: 
"What dost thou wish, namesake?" After a little while, 
Thorstein replies: "I desire to tell Gudrid of the fate which 
is in store for her, to the end that she may be better reconciled 
to my death, for I am indeed come to a goodly resting-place. 
This I have to tell thee, Gudrid, that thou art to marry an 
Icelander, and that ye are to have a long wedded hfe together, 



VINLAND HISTORY OF THE FLAT ISLAND BOOK 59 

and a numerous and noble progeny, illustrious, and famous, 
of good odor and sweet virtues. Ye shall go from Greenland 
to Norway, and thence to Iceland, where ye shall build your 
home. There ye shall dwell together for a long time, but thou 
shalt outhve him, and shalt then go abroad and to the South, 
and shalt return to Iceland again, to thy home, and there a 
church shall then be raised, and thou shalt abide there and take 
the veil, and there thou shalt die." When he had thus spoken, 
Thorstein sank back again, and his body was laid out for burial, 
and borne to the ship. Thorstein, the master, faithfully per- 
formed all his promises to Gudrid. He sold his lands and live- 
stock in the spring, and accompanied Gudrid to the ship, with 
all his possessions. He put the ship in order, procured a crew, 
and then sailed to Ericsfirth. The bodies of the dead were 
now buried at the church, and Gudrid then went home to Leif 
at Brattahlid, while Thorstein the Swarthy made a home for 
himself on Ericsfirth, and remained there as long as he lived, 
and was looked upon as a very superior man. 

Of the Wineland Voyages of Thorfinn and his Companions. — 
That same summer a ship came from Norway to Greenland. 
The skipper's name was Thorfinn Karlsefni; he was a son of 
Thord Horsehead, and a grandson of Snorri, the son of Thord 
of Ilcifdi. Thorfinn Karlsefni, who was a very wealthy man, 
passed the winter at Brattahlid with Leif Ericsson. He very 
soon set his heart upon Gudrid, and sought her hand in mar- 
riage ; she referred him to Leif for her answer, and was subse- 
quently betrothed to him, and their marriage was celebrated 
that same winter. A renewed discussion arose concerning 
a Wineland voyage, and the folk urged Karlsefni to make the 
venture, Gudrid joining with the others. He determined to 
undertake the voyage, and assembled a company of sixty men 
and five women, and entered into an agreement with his ship- 
mates that they should each share equally in all the spoils of 
the enterprise. They took with them all kinds of cattle, 
as it was their intention to settle the country, if they could. 
Karlsefni asked Leif for the house in Wineland, and he replied, 
that he would lend it but not give it. They sailed out to sea 



60 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

with the ship, and arrived safe and sound at Leif s-booths, and 
carried their hammocks ashore there. They were soon pro- 
vided with an abundant and goodly supply of food, for a whale 
of good size and quality was driven ashore there, and they 
secured it, and flensed it, and had then no lack of provisions. 
The cattle were turned out upon the land, and the males soon 
became very restless and vicious; they had brought a bull 
with them. Karlsefni caused trees to be felled, and to be 
hewed into timbers, wherewith to load his ship, and the wood 
was placed upon a cliff to dry. They gathered somewhat of 
all of the valuable products of the land, grapes, and all kinds 
of game and fish, and other good things. In the summer 
succeeding the first winter, Skrellings were discovered. A 
great troop of men came forth from out the woods. The 
cattle were hard by, and the bull began to bellow and roar with 
a great noise, whereat the Skrellings were frightened, and ran 
away, with their packs wherein were gray furs, sables, and all 
kinds of peltries. They fled towards Karlsefni's dwelling, 
and sought to effect an entrance into the house, but Karlsefni 
caused the doors to be defended [against them]. Neither 
[people] could understand the other's language. The Skrel- 
lings put down their bundles then, and loosed them, and offered 
their wares [for barter], and were especially anxious to ex- 
change these for weapons, but Karlsefni forbade his men to 
sell their weapons, and taking counsel with himself, he bade 
the women carry out milk to the Skrellings, which they no 
sooner saw, than they wanted to buy it, and nothing else. Now 
the outcome of the Skrellings' trading was, that they carried 
their wares away in their stomachs, while they left their packs 
and peltries behind with Karlsefni and his companions, and 
having accomplished this [exchange] they went away. Now 
it is to be told, that Karlsefni caused a strong wooden palisade 
to be constructed and set up around the house. It was at 
this time that Gudrid, Karlsefni's wife, gave birth to a male 
child, and the boy was called Snorri. In the early part of 
the second winter the Skrellings came to them again, and 
these were now much more numerous than before, and brought 



VINLAND HISTORY OF THE FLAT ISLAND BOOK 61 

with them the same wares as at first. Then said Karlsefni 
to the women: ''Do ye carry out now the same food, which 
proved so profitable before, and nought else." When they 
saw this they cast their packs in over the palisade. Gudrid 
was sitting within, in the doorway, beside the cradle of her in- 
fant son, Snorri, when a shadow fell upon the door, and a 
woman in a black namkirtle entered. She was short in stat- 
ure, and wore a fillet about her head ; her hair was of a light 
chestnut color, and she was pale of hue, and so big-eyed, that 
never before had eyes so large been seen in a human skull. 
She went up to where Gudrid was seated, and said : ' ' What is 
thy name?" ''My name is Gudrid; but what is thy name ? " 
"My name is Gudrid," says she. The housewife, Gudrid, 
motioned her with her hand to a seat beside her ; but it so hap- 
pened, that at that very instant Gudrid heard a great crash, 
whereupon the woman vanished, and at that same moment 
one of the Skrelhngs, who had tried to seize their weapons, 
was killed by one of Karlsefni 's followers. At this the Skrel- 
hngs fled precipitately, leaving their garments and wares be- 
hind them; and not a soul, save Gudrid alone, beheld this 
woman. "Now we must needs take counsel together," says 
Karlsefni, "for that I believe they will visit us a third time, 
in great numbers, and attack us. Let us now adopt this plan : 
ten of our number shall go out upon the cape, and show them- 
selves there, while the remainder of our company shall go into 
the woods and hew a clearing for our cattle, when the troop 
approaches from the forest. We will also take our bull, and 
let him go in advance of us." The lie of the land was such that 
the proposed meeting-place had the lake upon the one side, 
and the forest upon the other. Karlsefni's advice was now 
carried into execution. The Skrellings advanced to the spot 
which Karlsefni had selected for the encounter, and a battle 
was fought there, in w^hich great numbers of the band of the 
Skrellings were slain. There was one man among the Skrel- 
lings, of large size and fine bearing, whom Karlsefni concluded 
must be their chief. One of the Skrellings picked up an axe, 
and having looked at it for a time, he brandished it about one 



62 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

of his companions, and hewed at him, and on the instant the 
man fell dead. Thereupon the big man seized the axe, and 
after examining it for a moment, he hurled it as far as he could, 
out into the sea ; then they fled helter-skelter into the woods, 
and thus their intercourse came to an end. Karlsefni and his 
party remained there throughout the winter, but in the spring 
Karlsefni announces, that he is not minded to remain there 
longer, but will return to Greenland. They now made ready 
for the voyage, and carried away with them much booty in 
vines and grapes, and peltries. They sailed out upon the high 
seas, and brought their ship safely to Ericsfirth, where they 
remained during the winter. 

Freydis causes the Brothers to he put to Death. — There was 
now much talk anew, about a Wineland-voyage, for this was 
reckoned both a profitable and an honorable enterprise. The 
same summer that Karlsefni arrived from Wineland, a ship 
from Norway arrived in Greenland. This ship was commanded 
by two brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi, who passed the winter 
in Greenland. They were descended from an Icelandic family 
of the East-firths. It is now to be added, that Freydis,^ 
Eric's daughter, set out from her home at Gardar, and waited 
upon the brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi, and invited them to 
sail with their vessel to Wineland, and to share with her equally 
all of the good things which they might succeed in obtaining 
there. To this they agreed, and she departed thence to visit her 
brother, Leif, and ask him to give her the house which he had 
caused to be erected in Wineland, but he made her the same 
answer [as that which he had given Karlsefni], saying, that he 
would lend the house, but not give it. It was stipulated be- 
tween Karlsefni and Freydis, that each should have on ship- 
board thirty able-bodied men, besides the women ; but Freydis 
immediately violated this compact, by concealing five men more 
[than this number], and this the brothers did not discover 
before they arrived in Wineland. They now put out to sea, 
having agreed beforehand, that they would sail in company, 

* This cruel virago plays a much less conspicuous part in the version of 
Hauk's Book and AM, 557. 



VINLAND HISTORY OF THE FLAT ISLAND BOOK 63 

if possible, and although they were not far apart from each 
other, the brothers arrived somewhat in advance, and carried 
their belongings up to Leif's house. Now when Freydis 
arrived, her ship was discharged, and the baggage carried up 
to the house, whereupon Freydis exclaimed: ''Why did you 
carry your baggage in here ? " ''Since we believed," said they, 
''that all promises made to us would be kept." "It was to 
me that Leif loaned the house," says she, "and not to you." 
Whereupon Helgi exclaimed: "We brothers cannot hope to 
rival thee in wrong-dealing." They thereupon carried their 
baggage forth, and built a hut, above the sea, on the bank of 
the lake, and put all in order about it ; while Freydis caused 
wood to be felled, with which to load her ship. The winter 
now set in, and the brothers suggested, that they should amuse 
themselves by playing games. This they did for a time, until 
the folk began to disagree, when dissensions arose between 
them, and the games came to an end, and the visits between 
the houses ceased; and thus it continued far into the winter. 
One morning early, Freydis arose from her bed, and dressed 
herself, but did not put on her shoes and stockings. A heavy 
dew had fallen, and she took her husband's cloak, and wrapped 
it about her, and then walked to the brothers' house, and up 
to the door, which had been only partly closed by one of the 
men, who had gone out a short time before. She pushed 
the door open, and stood, silently, in the doorway for a time. 
Finnbogi, who was lying on the innermost side of the room, 
was awake, and said: "What dost thou wish here, Freydis?" 
She answers : "I wish thee to rise, and go out with me, for I 
would speak with thee." He did so, and they walked to a 
tree, which lay close by the wall of the house, and seated them- 
selves upon it. "How art thou pleased here?" says she. 
He answers: "I am well pleased with the fruitfulness of the 
land, but I am ill-content with the breach which has come 
between us, for, methinks, there has been no cause for it." 
"It is even as thou sayest," says she, "and so it seems to me; 
but my errand to thee is, that I wish to exchange ships with 
you brothers, for that ye have a larger ship than I, and I wish 



64 VOYAGES OF THE NOETHMEK 

to depart from here." ''To this I must accede," says he, 
''if it is thy pleasm-e." Therewith they parted, and she re- 
turned home, and Finnbogi to his bed. She chmbed up into 
bed, and awakened Thorvard with her cold feet, and he asked 
her why she was so cold and wet. She answered, with great 
passion: "I have been to the brothers," says she, "to try to 
buy their ship, for I wished to have a larger vessel, but they 
received my overtures so ill, that they struck me, and handled 
me very roughly; what time thou, poor wretch, wilt neither 
avenge my shame nor thy own, and I find, perforce, that I am 
no longer in Greenland, moreover I shall part from thee unless 
thou wreakest vengeance for this." And now he could stand 
her taunts no longer, and ordered the men to rise at once, and 
take their weapons, and this they did, and they then proceeded 
dirertly to the house of the brothers, and entered it, while the 
folk were asleep, and seized and bound them, and led each one 
out, when he was bound; and as they came out, Freydis 
caused each one to be slain. In this wise all of the men were 
put to death, and only the women were left, and these no one 
would kill. At this Freydis exclaimed: "Hand me an axe !" 
This was done, and she fell upon the five women, and left them 
dead. They returned home, after this dreadful deed, and it 
was very evident that Freydis was well content with her work. 
She addressed her companions, saying: "If it be ordained for 
us, to come again to Greenland, I shall contrive the death of 
any man who shall speak of these events. We must give it 
out, that we left them living here, when we came away." 
Early in the spring, they equipped the ship, which had be- 
longed to the brothers, and freighted it with all of the products 
of the land, which they could obtain, and which the ship 
would carry. Then they put out to sea, and, after a prosper- 
ous voyage, arrived with their ship in Ericsfirth early in the 
summer. Karlsefni was there, with his ship all ready to sail, 
and was awaiting a fair wind; and people say, that a ship 
richer laden, than that which he commanded, never left Green- 
land. 

Concerning Freydis. — Freydis now went to her home. 



VINLAND HISTORY OF THE FLAT ISLAND BOOK 65 

since it had remained unharmed during her absence. She be- 
stowed Uberal gifts upon all of her companions, for she was 
anxious to screen her guilt. She now established herself at 
her home ; but her companions were not all so close-mouthed, 
concerning their misdeeds and wickedness, that rumors did not 
get abroad at last. These finally reached her brother, Leif, 
and he thought it a most shameful story. He thereupon took 
three of the men, who had been of Freydis's party, and forced 
them all at the same time to a confession of the affair, and 
their stories entirely agreed. ''I have no heart," says Leif, 
'Ho punish my sister, Freydis, as she deserves, but this I pre- 
dict of them, that there is little prosperity in store for their 
offspring." Hence it came to pass, that no one from that time 
forward thought them worthy of aught but evil. It now re- 
mains to take up the story from the time when Karlsefni made 
his ship ready, and sailed out to sea. He had a successful 
voyage, and arrived in Norway safe and sound. He remained 
there during the winter, and sold his wares, and both he and his 
wife were received with great favor by the most distinguished 
men of Norway. The following spring he put his ship in order 
for the voyage to Iceland ; and when all his preparations had 
been made, and his ship lying at the wharf, awaiting favorable 
winds, there came to him a Southerner, a native of Bremen 
in the Saxonland, who wished to buy his ''house-neat." ^ 
"I do not wish to sell it," said he. "I will give thee half a 
'mork' in gold for it," says the Southerner, This Karlsefni 
thought a good offer, and accordingly closed the bargain. 
The Southerner went his way, with the "house-neat," and 
Karlsefni knew not what wood it was, but it was "mosur," 
come from Wineland. 

Karlsefni sailed away, and arrived with his ship in the north 
of Iceland, in Skagafirth. His vessel was beached there during 
the winter, and in the spring he bought Glaumboeiar-land, 
and made his home there, and dwelt there as long as he lived, 
and was a man of the greatest prominence. From him and 

* "A weather-vane, or other ornament at the point of the gable of a 
house or upon a ship." (Fritzner.) 



66 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

his wife, Gudrid, a numerous and goodly lineage is descended. 
After Karlsefni's death, Gudrid, together with her son, Snorri, 
who was born in Wineland, took charge of the farmstead; 
and when Snorri was married, Gudrid went abroad, and made 
a pilgrimage to the South, after which she returned again to 
the home of her son, Snorri, who had caused a church to be 
built at Glaumboer. Gudrid then took the veil and became an 
anchorite, and lived there the rest of her days. Snorri had a 
son, named Thorgeir, who was the father of Ingveld, the mother 
of Bishop Brand. Hallfrid was the name of the daughter of 
Snorri, Karlsefni's son ; she was the mother of Runolf, Bishop 
Thorlak's father. Biorn was the name of [another] son of 
Karlsefni and Gudrid; he was the father of Thorunn, the 
mother of Bishop Biorn. Many men are descended from 
Karlsefni, and he has been blessed with a numerous and 
famous posterity ; i and of all men Karlsefni has given the most 
exact accounts of all these voyages, of which something has 
now been recounted. 



FROM ADAM OF BREMEN'S ^ DESCRIPTIO 
INSULARUM AQUILONIS 

Moreover he ^ spoke of an island in that ocean ^ discov- 
ered by many, whicli is called Vinland, for the reason that 
vines grow wild there, which yield the best of wine. Moreover 
that grain unsown * grows there abundantly, is not a fabu- 
lous fancy, but, from the accounts of the Danes, we know to 
be a fact. Beyond this island, it is said, that there is no habi- 
table land in that ocean, but all those regions which are beyond 
are filled with insupportable ice and boundless gloom, to which 
Martian thus refers: ''One day's sail beyond Thile the sea is 
frozen." This was essayed aot long since by that very enter- 

^ Adam of Bremen was a prebendary and writer on ecclesiastical history. 
The Descriptio Insularum Aquilonis is an appendix to his Gesta Hamma- 
burgensis Ecdesiae Pontificuin. For the preparation of his work on the 
"Northern Islands," Adam spent some time at the Danish court, where he 
obtained much information from the king, Svend Estridson (1047-1076), an 
unusually well informed monarch. Adam's work was undoubtedly com- 
pleted before the king's death, which occurred in 1076. The Descriptio 
was first printed in Lindenbrog's edition of Adam's work, published in 1595, 
which thus contains the first printed allusions to Vinland. Rafn gives a 
facsimile of one of the manuscripts, for part of the passage. 

^ Svend Estridson, king of Denmark. 

^ Immediately before this extract, the author describes the islands in 
the northern seas — among them Iceland — and then proceeds to speak 
of newer lands "deeper in the ocean," first of all Greenland, "far up towards 
I the Swedish or Riphaean mountains," distant five or seven days' sailing from 
Norway, then Halagland, somewhat nearer, where the sun is above the 
horizon fourteen days in summer, and lastly Vinland. That is, according 
to Adam, Vinland was in a northern region. 

* The reference to the "unsown grain, " and vines in the preceding sen- 
tence, are sufficiently characteristic to have enabled any one familiar with 
the "Saga of Eric the Red" to identify the new land as Vinland, even though 
I it had not been named. It is interesting to note that the reference to 
1 "unsown grain" does not appear in the Flat Island Book saga, 

67 



68 



VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN- 



prising Northmen's prince, Harold/ who explored the extent 
of the northern ocean with his ship, but was scarcely able by 
retreating to escape in safety from the gulf's enormous abyss, 
where before his eyes the vanishing bounds of earth were hid- 
den in gloom. 

'Evidently a reference to" Harold the Stern-ruler (Haardraade) . He 
was a contemporary of Svend Estridson, and ruler in Norway from 1047 to 
1066. The saga of Harold Haardraade in Snorri Sturlason's "Saga of the 
Kings of Norway" contains no reference to any such expedition. Yet it 
would be quite in keeping with the other adventures of this much-travelled 
king to have undertaken such an expedition. It is to be noted that he did 
not, according to Adam, go in search of Vinland. 



FROM THE ICELANDIC ANNALS ^ 



ANNALES REGII 

A.D. 112L Bishop Eric^ of Greenland went in search of 
Vinland. 

FROM THE ELDER SKALHOLT^ ANNALS 

A.D. 1347. There came also a ship from Greenland, less 
in size than small Icelandic trading vessels. It came into the 
outer Stream-firth.* It was without an anchor. There were 
seventeen men on board, and they had sailed to Mark- 
land,^ but had afterwards been driven hither by storms at sea. 

^ Besides the Annales Regii, which are the most important, there are 
several other Icelandic annals. All have, under the year 1121, the entry 
given here, (facsimile in Rafn). It is the only information that they give 
concerning Vinland, and is the last surviving mention of Vinland in the older 
Icelandic records. It must be remarked, however, that there were no 
contemporary annals as early as 1121; the earliest entries on Scandinavian 
events are gleaned from various sources, especially the early historians. 

^ According to the Landnama-bok he was an Icelander, his full name be- 
ing Eric Gnupson. He is also known as Eric Uppsi. He was, according to 
some accounts, the first bishop of Greenland. The exact date of his conse- 
cration is not known; but the Lawman's Annals have, under date of 1112, 
these words : " Bishop Eric's expedition," referring no doubt to his departure 
from Iceland. There is no record of his consecration at Lund (Sweden), 
the seat of the primate at that time, as in the case of his successor. Bishop 
Arnold. In regard to Bishop Eric's seeking Vinland, there is no indication 
anywhere why he went, or whether he ever returned. At any rate, the Green- 
landers applied for a new bishop, and, according to the annals, one was con- 
secrated in 1124; this was Bishop Arnold, and he reached Greenland the 
following year. See "The Tale of the Greenlanders," in Origines Islandicae, 
II. 748. 

^ So called because the manuscript was found at Skalholt, in southern 
Iceland. This entry (facsimile in Rafn) is corroborated, in abbreviated form, 
by the Annals of Gottskalk, in these words : "A ship came then from Green- 
land, which had sailed to Markland, and there were eighteen men on board." 

* Stream-firth is on the western coast of Iceland. 

° One of the new lands mentioned in the sagas of the Vinland voyages. 

69 



PAPAL LETTERS CONCERNING THE BISH- 
OPRIC OF GARDAR IN GREENLAND 
DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY' 

LETTER OF NICHOLAS V., September 20, 1448 

Called by a command from on high to preside over all the 
churches in the exercise of our apostolic duty, with the Lord's 
help we employ all our solicitude in laboring for the salvation 
of souls redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and we 
strive earnestly to restore to a state of peace and tranquillity, 
not only those who are frequently tossed about by the storms 
of impiety and error, but also those who are involved in the 
hardships and whirlwinds of persecution. Profoundly im- 

* In 1893 an American in Rome, Mr. J. C. Heywood, one of the papal 
chamberlains, brought out, in a very small edition (twenty-five copies), 
a book of photographic facsimiles of documents in the Vatican relating to 
Greenland and the discovery of America, Documenta Seleda e Tabulario 
Secreto Vaticano. The Latin text of those here presented may be found in 
Fischer, Discoveries of the Northmen, pp. 49-5 L A translation of all was 
made for the Tennessee Historical Society by Rev. John B. Morris and 
printed in Vol. IX. of the society's organ, the American Historical Maga- 
zine. Using this translation, we have printed Letters IX. and X. as the 
only ones that contain anything of particular interest concerning the Gar- 
dar bishopric in Greenland, excepting, possibly, the following sentence from 
Letter 11. (December 4, 1276), to the Archbishop of Drontheim: "Your 
Fraternity having been explicitly directed by letters apostolic to visit per- 
sonally all parts of the kingdom of Norway, for the purpose of collecting 
the tithes due the Holy Land, has informed us that this seems almost 
impossible, when it is taken into consideration that the diocese of Gardar 
in Greenland is so remote from your metropolitan see and kingdom, that 
five years or more would be consumed in going thither and returning." It 
has been inferred, on account of the length of this time, that the Vinland 
colony was included. There is no documentary evidence of this. The 
papal letters contain no reference to Vinland. 

70 



PAPAL LETTERS CONCERNING GREENLAND 71 

pressed therefore with the responsibihty of our position, it is 
not difficult to understand how our mind was filled with bit- 
terness by the tearful lamentations ^ which have reached our 
ears from our beloved children, the native and other inhabit- 
ants of the island of Greenland, a region situated at the utter- 
most end of the earth. The island, belonging ^ to the king- 
dom of Norway, and under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the 
Archbishop of Drontheim,^ received the faith of Christ almost 
six * centuries ago, through the piety of blessed King Olaf, and 
preserved it steadfastly and inviolably in accordance with the 
tradition of the Roman Church, and the Apostolic See. After 
their conversion, the people of this island, with untiring and 
characteristic devotion, erected many temples ^ to the worship 
of God and his saints, as well as a magnificent cathedral,® in 
which divine worship was diligently celebrated, until about 
thirty ' years ago, when God permitting it, a barbarous and 
pagan fleet from neighboring shores ^ invaded the island, lay- 

' No record of these reports from Greenland has been found. 
^ Both Iceland and Greenland came under Norwegian rule in 1261, dur- 
ing the reign of Haakon Haakonson (1217-1263). 
^ In Norway. 

* Only four and a half centuries before this time. Olaf Tryggvason, who 
reigned from 995 to 1000, sent Leif Ericson as a missionary to Greenland in 
the year 1000. 

^ According to Northern chorography, the Eastern Settlement had one 
hundred and ninety farmsteads, twelve churches, and two monasteries; the 
Western Settlement had ninety farmsteads and three churches. 

' The cathedral (hardly magnificent) was in the Eastern Settlement (i.e., 
in southern Greenland), no doubt the present Kakortok. The village of 
Gardar, which gave its name to the bishopric, was at the present Kaksiarsuk. 
The authority which makes this identification possible, is Ivar Bardsen's 
description of Greenland written in that country in the fourteenth century. 
He was for many years steward to the Gardar bishopric. An English 
version of Bardsen's description is printed in Major's The Voyages of the 
Venetian Brothers Zeno (London, 1873). See also Fiske, The Discovery of 
America, pp. 239 and 242. 

' That is, about 1418. The last notice of Greenland based on Northern 
tradition is from the year 1409, telling of a marriage ceremony performed by 
Endride Andreson, the last bishop. See Laing's The Sagas of the Norse 
Kings (London, 1889), p. 177. 

* From Ivar Bardsen's description of Greenland it is known that the 
Greenlanders first came in conflict with the Eskimos during the fourteenth 



72 VOYAGES OF THE NOETHMEN 

ing waste the land with fire and sword, and destroying the 
sacred temples. Just nine parish churches were left standing. 
To these are attached, it is said, parishes of very great extent. 
These churches are left intact, because being situated in the 
mountain fastnesses, they were inaccessible to the barbarian 
hordes, who, after completing their work of destruction, led 
captive to their shores the unfortunate inhabitants of both 
sexes, and more particularly those who seemed best able to 
bear the hardships of servitude and tyranny. But as the 
same complaint sets forth, many of these captives, after a 
time, returned to their native land. They set to work to re- 
build their ruined homes, and were particularly desirous of 
restoring divine worship to its former splendor. Because, 
however, of their past calamities, as well as the added trials 
of famine and want, they had not wherewith to support priests 
or bishop. They have been consequently during these thirty 
years past without the comfort and ministry of bishop or 
priest, unless some one of a very zealous disposition, and at 
long intervals, and in spite of danger from the raging sea, 
ventured to visit the island and minister to them in those 
churches which the barbarians had left standing. Having ac- 
quainted us with this deplorable state of affairs, and knowing 
our paternal solicitude, they have supplicated us to come to 
their rescue in this their hour of spiritual need. Our hearts 
have been moved by the prayers of the people of Greenland, 
but not being sufficiently acquainted with the circumstances, 

century. He was appointed to lead an expedition from the Eastern Settle- 
ment against the SkreUings (Eskimos), who had taken possession of the 
Western Settlement. When he arrived there the SkreUings had departed, 
and they found nothing but ruins and some cattle running wild. See 
Antiquitates American(B, p. 316. 

The letter of Nicholas V. refers to an attack on the Western Settlement, of 
which there is no other recorded evidence. It is not likely that it will ever 
be possible to determine whether the settlement owed its final destruction 
to the irruptions of the Eskimos, "to the ravages of pestilence, to the en- 
forced neglect of the mother country — itself during the fifteenth century 
too often in sore straits — to the iniquitous restrictions in commerce imposed 
by the home government, or to a combination of several of these evils." 
There was a regular succession of bishops from 1124 to the end of the four- 
teenth, or perhaps the beginning of the fifteenth century. 



PAPAL LETTERS CONCERNING GREENLAND 73 

we direct and command you, or either of you/ beloved broth- 
ers, who as we understand are the bishops hving nearest to 
that island, to institute a diligent inquiry as to whether things 
are as they have been reported to us, and if you should find 
them so, and the number of people warrant it, and if they 
are in a condition to provide sufficiently, we command you or 
either of you, to send worthy priests who will minister to them, 
erect churches, govern parishes, and administer the sacraments. 

Moreover, if you or either of you should deem it expedient, 
and in this you will consult, of course, the metropolitan,^ if his 
residence be not too far away from you, we empower you to 
select and consecrate a bishop, having first required him to 
take the usual oath to us and the Roman See. Be mindful, 
however, that we burden your conscience with this work, and 
we grant you, or either of you, full authority to carry it out, 
even if there should exist any constitution of the Apostolic 
See, general councils, canonical or other statutes to the con- 
trary. 

Given at Rome as dated above in the second year of our 
pontificate. 

LETTER OF ALEXANDER VI.; WRITTEN IN THE 
FIRST YEARS OF HIS PONTIFICATE' 

It has been reported to us that in the diocese of Gardar in 
Greenland, situated at the confines of the known world, the 
inhabitants, because of the scarcity of bread, wine and oil, 
five for the most part on dried fish and milk products. Where- 
fore because of the difficulty of passing through such immense 
quantities of ice, and likewise because of the poverty of the 
land, and the scant means of hving, ships rarely visit its 
shores. We have learned in fact that no vessel has touched 
there during the past eighty years, and if a voyage be made 
at all, it must be in the month of August, when the ice has 

' Addressed to the two bishops of Skalholt and Holar, in Iceland. 
^ The Archbishop of Drontheim in Norway. 
' Alexander VI. was pope from 1492 to 1503. 



74 VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 

broken up. On this account, during eighty years no bishop 
or priest has resided personally among those people, and by 
reason of this, we are informed that many who were formerly 
Catholics have forgotten the faith of their baptism, and that 
no memory of the Christian religion is found, except a cor- 
poral, which is shown to the people once a year, and on which 
it is said the last priest who officiated there consecrated the 
body of Christ a hundred years ago/ In consideration of 
these things, Innocent the VIIL, our predecessor of happy 
memory, wishing to provide a proper pastor for those forlorn 
people, conferred with his brethren, of whom we were one, 
and elected Matthias, our venerable brother, a member of the 
Order of St. Benedict, as well as professed monk, at our sug- 
gestion, and while we were still in minor orders, to be Bishop 
of Gardar. This good man, fired with great zeal to recall 
those people from the way of error to the practice of their 
faith, is about to undertake this perilous voyage and labori- 
ous duty.^ We, on our part, accordingly, recognizing the 
pious and praiseworthy purpose of the same elect, and 
wishing to succor in some manner his poverty, which is very 
great indeed, command the officials of our chancery, as well 
as those of our palace, under pain of excommunication ipso 
facto to be incurred, that all apostohc letters destined for the 
church of Gardar, be written gratis for the glory of God alone, 
without exacting or charging any stipend ; and we command 
the clergy and notaries of our palace to forward all letters to 
the above mentioned bishop, without demanding any pay- 
ment whatsoever for services rendered. 

To him everything must be free, other things to the con- 
trary notwithstanding. 

^ Evidently this is only an approximate statement. 

^ There are no records that this man ever reached either Greenland or 
Iceland. The Greenland colony was not entirely forgotten by the home 
government (Denmark-Norway). In the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, Archbishop Valkendorf of Drontheim had agitated the question of 
searching for the Greenland colony. During the reign of Frederick II. 
of Denmark-Norway, Mogens Heinesen was in 1579 sent out, but he did 
not reach the island. The Englishman John Davis, in 1585, visited the 
western coast of Greenland, but found no Europeans. 



ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF THE 
VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 



ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN 
THE LORDS THE CATHOLIC SOVER- 
EIGNS AND CRISTOBAL COLONS 

The things prayed for, and which Your Highnesses give 
and grant to Don Cristobal Colon ^ as some recompense for 
what he is to discover in the Oceans, and for the voyage which 
now, with the help of God, he has engaged to make therein in 
the service of Your Highnesses, are the following : 

Firstly, that Your Highnesses, as actual Lords of the said 
Oceans, appoint from this date the said Don Cristobal Colon 
to be your Admiral in all those islands and mainlands which 

^ The Spanish text is that printed by Navarrete in his Coleccion de los 
Viages y Descubrimientos, etc. (Madrid, 1825), II. 7-8, and taken from the 
Archives of the Duke of Veragua. The translation is that of George F. 
Barwick printed by Benjamin Frankhn Stevens in his Christopher Columbus 
His Own Book of Privileges, 1502, etc. (London, 1893), pp. 42-45, with such 
slight changes (chiefly of tenses) as were necessary to bring it into con- 
formity with the text of Navarrete. This document is also given in English 
translation in Memorials of Columbus (London, 1823), pp. 40-43. That 
volume is a translation of G. B. Spotorno, Codice Diplomatico Colombo- 
Americano (Genoa, 1823). 

^ In this edition of the Narratives of the Voyages of Columbus his name 
in the translation of the original documents will be given in the form used in 
the originals. During his earlier years in Spain Columbus was known as 
Colomo, the natural Spanish form corresponding to the Italian Colombo. 
At some time prior to 1492 he adopted the form Colon, apparently to make 
more probable his claim to be descended from a Roman general, Colonius, 
and to be related to the French admiral, Coullon, called in contemporary 
Italian sources Colombo, and Columbus in Latin. In modern texts of 
Tacitus the Roman general's name is Cilonius, and modern research has 
shown that the French admiral's real name was Caseneuve and that Coullon 
was a sobriquet added for some unknown reason. On the two French 
naval commanders known as Colombo or Coullon and the baselessness of 
Columbus's alleged relationship see Vignaud, Etudes Critiques sur la Vie de 
Colornb, pp. 131 ff. 

77 



78 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

by his activity and industry shall be discovered or acquired 
in the said oceans, during his lifetime, and likewise, after his 
death, his heirs and successors one after another in perpetuity, 
with all the pre-eminences and prerogatives appertaining to 
the said office, and in the same manner as Don Alfonso En- 
riques, your High Admiral of Castile,^ and his predecessors in 
the said office held it in their districts. — It so pleases their 
Highnesses. Juan de Coloma. 

Likewise, that Your Highnesses appoint the said Don Cris- 
tobal Colon to be your Viceroy and Governor General in all 
the said islands and mainlands and in the islands which, as 
aforesaid, he may discover and acquire ^ in the said seas ; and 
that for the government of each and any of them he may 
make choice of three persons for each office, and that Your 
Highnesses may select and choose the one who shall be most 
serviceable to you; and thus the lands which our Lord shall 
permit him to discover and acquire for the service of Your 
Highnesses, will be the better governed. — It so pleases their 
Highnesses. Juan de Coloma. 

^ In 1497 Columbus at his own request was supplied with a copy of the 
ordinances establishing the admiralty of Castile so that he might have a docu- 
mentary enumeration of his prerogatives in the Indies. This official copy 
he preserved in the collection of his papers known as the Book of Privileges, 
and the translation of the documents relating to the Admiralty of Castile is 
given in Stevens's edition of the Book of Privileges, pp. 14 ff. This dignity 
of Admiral comprised supreme or vice-regal authority on the sea and the 
general range of legal jurisdiction in determining suits of law that is enjoyed 
by modern courts of admiralty. A translation of Columbus's exposition of 
his rights derived from his admiralty of the islands in the Ocean may be 
found in P. L. Ford, Writings of Columbus (New York, 1892), pp. 177-198, 
taken from Memorials of Columbus (London, 1823), pp. 205-223. For a 
summary of these powers cf. the Titulo that follows. 

^ It is a remarkable fact that nothing is said in this patent of discovering 
a route to the Indies. It is often said that the sole purpose of Columbus 
was to discover such a route, yet it is clear that he expected to make some 
new discoveries, and that if he did not, the sovereigns were under no specified 
obligations to him. Patents are usually drawn on the lines indicated by the 
petitioner. Can we conclude that the complete silence of the articles as 
to the Indies means that Ferdinand and Isabella refused to make any promises 
if Columbus only succeeded in reaching the known East Indies and could gain 
for them no new possessions? 



1492] ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT 79 

Item, that of all and every kind of merchandise, whether 
pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and other objects 
and merchandise whatsoever, of whatever kind, name and sort, 
which may be bought, bartered, discovered, acquired and ob- 
tained within the limits of the said Admiralty, Your High- 
nesses grant from now henceforth to the said Don Cristobal, 
and will that he may have and take for liimself, the tenth part 
of the whole, after deducting all the expenses which may be 
incurred therein, so that of what shall remain clear and free 
he may have and take the tenth part for himself, and may do 
therewith as he pleases, the other nine parts being reserved 
for Your Highnesses. — It so pleases their Highnesses. Juan 
de Coloma. 

Likewise, that if on account of the merchandise which he 
might bring from the said islands and lands which thus, as 
aforesaid, may be acquired or discovered, or of that which 
may be taken in exchange for the same from other merchants 
here, any suit should arise in the place where the said com- 
merce and traffic shall be held and conducted ; and if by the 
pre-eminence of his office of Admiral it appertains to him to 
take cognizance of such suit ; it may please Your Highnesses 
that he or his deputy, and not another judge, shall take cog- 
nizance thereof and give judgment in the same from hence- 
forth. — It so pleases their Highnesses, if it appertains to the 
said office of Admiral, according as it was held by Admiral 
Don Alfonso Enriques, and others his successors in their dis- 
tricts, and if it be just. Juan de Coloma. 

Item, that in all the vessels which may be equipped for 
the said traffic and business, each time and whenever and as 
often as they may be equipped, the said Don Cristobal Colon 
may, if he chooses, contribute and pay the eighth part 
of all that may be spent in the equipment, and that likewise 
he may have and take the eighth part of the profits that may 
result from such equipment. — It so pleases their Highnesses. 
Juan de Coloma. 

These are granted and despatched, with the repUes of Your 
Highnesses at the end of each article, in the town of Santa Fe 



80 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

de la Vega of Granada, on the seventeenth day of April in the 
year of the nativity of our Saviour Jesus Christ, one thousand 
four hundred and ninety-two. I the King. I the Queen. 
By command of the King and of the Queen. Juan de Coloma. 
Registered, Calcena. 



TITLE GRANTED BY THE CATHOLIC 
SOVEREIGNS TO CRISTOBAL COLON OF 
ADMIRAL, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR 
OF THE ISLANDS AND MAINLAND THAT 
MAY BE DISCOVERED! 

Don Ferdinand and Donna Isabella, by the grace of God 
King and Queen of Castile, Leon, Aragon, Sicily, Granada, 
Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, Majorca, Seville, Sardinia, Cordova, 
Corsica, Murcia, Jaen, Algarbe, Algeciras, Gibraltar, and the 
Canary Islands ; Count and Countess of Barcelona ; Lords of 
Biscay and Molina ; Dukes of Athens and Neopatria ; Counts 
of Roussillon and Cerdagne, Marquises of Oristano and Gozi- 
ano ; Forasmuch as you, Cristobal Colon, are going by our 
command, with some of our ships and with our subjects, to 
discover and acquire certain islands and mainland in the ocean, 
and it is hoped that, by the help of God, some of the said 
islands and mainland in the said ocean will be discovered and 
acquired by your pains and industry ; and as it is a just and 
reasonable tiling that since you incur the said danger for our 
service you should be rewarded for it, and since we desire to 
honor and favor you on account of what is aforesaid, it is our 
will and pleasure that you, the said Cristobal Colon, after you 
have discovered and acquired the said islands and mainland in 
the said ocean, or any of them whatsoever, shall be our Ad- 
miral of the said islands and mainland which you may thus 
discover and acquire, and shall be our Admiral and Viceroy 

^Spanish text in Navarrete, II. 9-11. We omit the long preamble. 
Spanish text and facsimile of Paris Codex in Stevens, Christopher Columbus 
His Own Book of Privileges, pp. 49 ff. The translation is that of George F. 
Barwick. This document is also to be found in English in Memorials of 
Columbus (London, 1823), pp. 52-57. 
o 81 



82 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

and Governor therein, and shall be empowered from that time 
forward to call and entitle yourself Don Cristobal Colon, and 
that your sons and successors in the said office and charge may 
hkewise entitle and call themselves Don, and Admiral and 
Viceroy and Governor thereof ; and that you may have power 
to use and exercise the said office of Admiral, together with 
the said office of Viceroy and Governor of the said islands and 
mainland which you may thus discover and acquire, by your- 
self or by your heutenants, and to hear and determine all the 
suits and causes civil and criminal appertaining to the said 
office of Admiralty, Viceroy, and Governor according as you 
shall find by law, and as the Admirals of our kingdoms are 
accustomed to use and exercise it; and may have power to 
punish and chastise delinquents, and exercise the said offices 
of Admiralty, Viceroy, and Governor, you and your said 
Heutenants, in all that concerns and appertains to the said 
offices and to each of them; and that you shall have and 
levy the fees and salaries annexed, belonging and appertain- 
ing to the said offices and to each of them, according as our 
High Admiral in the Admiralty of our kingdoms levies and is 
accustomed to levy them. And by this our patent, or by the 
transcript thereof signed by a pubHc scrivener, we command 
Prince Don Juan, our very dear and well beloved son, and 
the Infantes, dukes, prelates, marquises, coimts, masters of 
orders, priors, commanders, and members of our council, and 
auditors of our audiencia, alcaldes, and other justices whom- 
soever of our household, court, and chancery, and sub-com- 
manders, alcaldes of castles and fortified and unfortified 
houses, and all councillors, assistants, regidores, alcaldes, bail- 
iffs, judges, veinticuatros, jurats, knights, esquires, officers, 
and liege men ^ of all the cities, towns, and places of our king- 
doms and dominions, and of those which you may conquer 

* Audiencia means the king's court of justice ; regidores are roughly equiv- 
alent to members of a town council. The Navarre te text has corregidores, 
town governors appointed by the king. Veinticuatros were town councillors, 
so called because commonly 24 in number. Jurats were municipal executive 
officers in Aragon. The original which is translated "liege men" is Homes- 
Buenos. Further explanations of these offices may be found in Hume, 



1492] TITLE GRANTED TO COLUMBUS 83 

and acquire, and the captains, masters, mates, officers, mari- 
ners, and seamen, our natural subjects who now are or here- 
after shall be, and each and any of them, that upon the said 
islands and mainland in the said ocean being discovered and 
acquired by you, and the oath and formality requisite in such 
case having been made and done by you or by him who may 
have your procuration,^ they shall have and hold you from 
thenceforth for the whole of your life, and your son and suc- 
cessor after you, and successor after successor for ever and 
ever, as our Admiral of the said ocean, and as Viceroy and 
Governor of the said islands and mainland, which you, the 
said Don Cristobal Colon, may discover and acquire ; and they 
shall treat with you, and with your said lieutenants whom 
you may place in the said offices of Admiral, Viceroy, and 
Governor, about everything appertaining thereto, and shall 
pay and cause to be paid to you the salary, dues and other 
things annexed and appertaining to the said offices, and shall 
observe and cause to be observed toward you all the honors, 
graces, favors, liberties, pre-eminences, prerogatives, exemp- 
tions, immunities, and all other things, and each of them, 
which in virtue of the said offices of Admiral, Viceroy, and 
Governor you shall be entitled to have and enjoy, and which 
ought to be observed towards you in every respect fully and 
completely so that nothing may be diminished therefrom ; and 
that neither therein nor in any part thereof shall they place 
or consent to place hindrance or obstacle against you ; for we 
by this our patent from now henceforth grant to you the said 
offices of Admiralty, Viceroy, and Governor, by right of in- 
heritance for ever and ever, and we give you actual and pro- 
spective possession thereof, and of each of them, and power 
and authority to use and exercise it, and to collect the dues 
and salaries annexed and appertaining to them and to each 
of them, according to what is aforesaid. Concerning all that 
is aforesaid, if it should be necessary and you should require 

Spain, Its Greatness and Decay, pp. 18 ff., and in The Cambridge Modern 
History, I. 348 ff. 

' Procuration = power of attorney. 



84 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

it of them, we command our chancellor and notaries and the 
other officers who are at the board of our seals to give, deliver, 
pass, and seal for you our patent of privilege with the circle 
of signatures, in the strongest, firmest, and most sufficient 
manner that you may request and may find needful, and nei- 
ther one nor the other of you or them shall do contrary hereto 
in any manner, under penalty of our displeasure and of ten 
thousand maravedis ^ to our chamber, upon every one who 
shall do to the contrary. And further we command the man 
who shall show them this our patent, to cite them to appear 
before us in our court, wheresoever we may be, within fif- 
teen days from the day of citation, under the said penalty, 
under which we command every public scrivener who may be 
summoned for this purpose, to give to the person who shall 
show it to him a certificate thereof signed with his signature, 
whereby we may know in what manner our command is exe- 
cuted. Given in our city of Granada, on the thirtieth day of 
the month of April, in the year of the nativity of our Lord 
Jesus Christ one thousand four hundred and ninety-two. 
I the King. I the Queen. I, Juan de Coloma, Secretary of 
the King and of the Queen, our Lords, caused this to be writ- 
ten by their command. Granted in form, Roderick, Doctor. 
Registered, Sebastian de Olano. Francisco de Madrid, Chan- 
cellor. 

' The maravedi at this time was equal in coin value to about two-thirds 
of a cent. 



JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 
OF COLUMBUS 



INTRODUCTION 

The contents of Columbus's Journal of his first voyage were 
first made known to the pubhc in the epitome incorporated in 
Ferdinand Columbus's life of the Admiral, which has come 
down to us only in the Itahan translation of Alfonso Ulloa, 
the Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo nelle quali s^ha par- 
ticolare e vera relazione delta vita e de' fatti delV Ammiraglio 
D. Christoforo Colomho suo padre, etc. (Venice, 1571). This 
account is accessible in EngUsh in Churchill's Voyages, Vol. IL, 
and in Pinkerton's Voyages, Vol. XII. 

Another epitome was prepared by Bartolome de Las Casas 
and inserted in his Historia de las Indias. This account was 
embodied in the main by Antonio de Herrera in his Historia 
General de las Indias Occidentales (Madrid, 1601). It is ac- 
cessible in English in John Stevens's translation of Herrera 
(London, 1725-1726). 

These independent epitomes of the original were supple- 
mented in 1825 by the publication by the Spanish archivist 
Martin Fernandez de Navarrete in his Coleccion de los Viages 
y Descuhrimientos que hicieron por mar los Espanoles desde fines 
del sigh XV. of a considerably more detailed narrative (Hke- 
wise independently abridged from the original) which existed 
in two copies in the archives of the Duke del Infantado. Na- 
varrete says that the handwriting of the older copy is that of 
Las Casas and that Las Casas had written some explanatory 
notes in the margin. This longer narrative, here reprinted, 
was first translated by Samuel Kettell of Boston and pub- 
lished in 1827 under the title Personal Narrative of 'the First 

87 



88 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 

Voyage of Columbus. The next translation was that of Clem- 
ents R. Markham for the Hakluyt Society in 1893. A third 
and very exact rendering appeared in 1903 in John Boyd 
Thacher's Christopher Columbus, Vol. I. 

The translation given here is that of Sir Clements R. 
Markham with some shght revisions. When we recall the very 
scanty and fragmentary knowledge which we have of the 
Cabot voyages, and how few in fact of the great discoverers 
of this era left personal narratives of their achievements, we 
reahze our singular good fortune in possessing so full a daily 
record from the hand of Columbus himself which admits us 
as it were " into the very presence of the Admiral to share his 
thoughts and impressions as the strange panorama of his ex- 
periences unfolded before him." ^ Sir Clements R. Markham 
declares the Journal ''the most important document in the 
whole range of the history of geographical discovery, because 
it is a record of the enterprise which changed the whole face, 
not only of that history, but of the history of mankind." ^ 

Edward G. Bourne. 

* Bourne, Spain in America, p. 22. 

^ Journal of Christopher Columbus, p. viii. 



JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE OF 
COLUMBUS 

This is the first voyage and the routes and direction taken by the 
Admiral Don Cristobal Colon when he discovered the Indies, 
summarized; except the prologue made for the Sovereigns, 
which is given word for word and commences in this manner 

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ 

Because, most Christian, and very high, very excellent, 
and puissant Princes, King and Queen of the Spains and of 
the islands of the Sea, our Lords, in this present year of 1492, 
after your Higlmesses had given an end to the war with the 
Moors who reigned in Europe, and had finished it in the very 
great city of Granada, where in this present year, on the second 
day of the month of January, by force of arms, I saw the 
royal banners of your Highnesses placed on the towers of 
Alfambra,^ which is the fortress of that city, and I saw the 
Moorish King come forth from the gates of the city and kiss 
the royal hands of your Highnesses, and of the Prince my 
Lord, and presently in that same month, acting on the infor- 
mation that I had given to your Highnesses touching the lands 
of India, and respecting a Prince who is called Gran Can, 
which means in our language King of Kings, how he and his 
ancestors had sent to Rome many times to ask for learned 
men ^ of our holy faith to teach him, and how the Holy Father 

' The Alhambra. 

^ This information Columbus is ordinarily supposed to have derived from 
Toscanelli's letter which may be found in Fiske, Discovery of America, I. 356 ff. 
and II. App. The original source of the information, however, is Marco 
Polo, and Columbus summarized the passage on the margin in his copy of 
Marco Polo, Lib. i., ch. iv., as follows : " Magnus Kam misit legatos ad 
pontificem : " Raccolta Colomhiana, Part i, Tomo 2, p. 446. That he read 

89 



90 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

had never complied, insomuch that many people believing in 
idolatries were lost by receiving doctrine of perdition : your 
Highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes who love the 
holy Christian faith, and the propagation of it, and who are 
enemies to the sect of Mahoma and to all idolatries and here- 
sies, resolved to send me, Cristobal Colon, to the said parts 
of India to see the said princes, and the cities and lands, and 
their disposition, with a view that they might be converted to 
our holy faith ; ^ and ordered that I should not go by land to 
the eastward, as had been customary, but that I should go by 
way of the west, whither up to this day, we do not know for 
certain that any one has gone. 

Thus, after having turned out all the Jews from all your 
kingdoms and lordships, in the same month of January,^ your 
Highnesses gave orders to me that with a sufficient fleet I 
should go to the said parts of India, and for this they made 
great concessions to me, and ennobled me, so that hencefor- 
ward I should be called Don, and should be Chief Admiral of 
the Ocean Sea, perpetual Viceroy and Governor of all the 
islands and continents that I should discover and gain, and 
that I might hereafter discover and gain in the Ocean Sea, 
and that my eldest son should succeed, and so on from genera- 
tion to generation for ever. 

I left the city of Granada on the 12th day of May, in the same 
year of 1492, being Saturday, and came to the town of Palos, 
which is a seaport ; where I equipped three vessels well suited 
for such service ; and departed from that port, well supplied 
with provisions and with many sailors, on the 3d day of August 
of the same year, being Friday, half an hour before sunrise, 

and annotated these passages before 1492 seems most probable. See 
Bourne, Spain in America, pp. 10-15, and Vignaud, Toscanelli and Colum- 
hvs, p. 284. 

* It is interesting to notice the emphasis of the missionary motive in this 
preamble. Nothing is said in regard to the search for a new route to the 
Indies for commercial reasons. Nor is reference made to the expectation 
of new discoveries which is prominent in the royal patent granted to Colum- 
bus, see above p. 78. 

^ The edict of expulsion bears the date of March 30. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 91 

taking the route to the islands of Canaria, belonging to your 
Highnesses, which are in the said Ocean Sea, that I might 
thence take my departure for navigating until I should arrive 
at the Indies, and give the letters of your Highnesses to those 
princes, so as to comply with my orders. As part of my duty 
I thought it well to write an account of all the voyage very 
punctually, noting from day to day all that I should do and 
see, and that should happen, as will be seen further on. Also, 
Lords Princes, I resolved to describe each night what passed 
in the day, and to note each day how I navigated at night. 
I propose to construct a new chart for navigating, on which 
I shall delineate all the sea and lands of the Ocean in their 
proper positions under their bearings ; and further, I propose 
to prepare a book, and to put down all as it were in a picture, 
by latitude from the equator, and western longitude. Above 
all, I shall have accomplished much, for I shall forget sleep, 
and shall work at the business of navigation, that so the ser- 
vice may be performed ; all which will entail great labor. 

Friday, 3d of August 

We departed on Friday, the 3d of August, in the year 1492, 
from the bar of Saltes, at 8 o'clock, and proceeded with a 
strong sea breeze until sunset, towards the south, for 60 miles, 
equal to 15 leagues ; ^ afterwards S.W. and W.S.W., which 
was the course for the Canaries. 

Saturday, Uh of August 
They steered S.W. \ S. 

Sunday, 5th of August 

They continued their course day and night more than 40 
leagues. 

•Columbus reckoned in Italian miles, four of which make a league. 
(Navarre te.) 



92 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

Monday, Qth of August 

The rudder of the caravel Pinta became unshipped, and 
Martin Alonso Pinzon, who was in command, beheved or sus- 
pected that it was by contrivance of Gomes Rascon and 
Cristobal Quintero, to whom the caravel belonged, for they 
dreaded to go on that voyage. The Admiral says that, before 
they sailed, these men had been displaying a certain back- 
wardness, so to speak. The Admiral was much disturbed at 
not being able to help the said caravel without danger, and 
he says that he was eased of some anxiety when he reflected 
that Martin Alonso Pinzon was a man of energy and ingenuity. 
They made, during the day and night, 29 leagues. 

Tuesday, 7th of August 

The rudder of the Pinta was shipped and secured, and they 
proceeded on a course for the island of Lanzarote, one of the 
Canaries. They made, during the day and night, 25 leagues. 

Wednesday, 8th of August , 

Opinions respecting their position varied among the pilots 
of the three caravels; but that of the Admiral proved to be 
nearer the truth. He wished to go to Gran Canaria, to leave 
the caravel Pinta, because she was disabled by the faulty hang- 
ing of her rudder, and was making water. He intended to 
obtain another there if one could be found. They could not 
reach the place that day. 

Thursday, 9th of August 

The Admiral was not able to reach Gomera until the night 
of Sunday, while Martin Alonso remained on that coast of 
Gran Canaria by order of the Admiral, because his vessel could 
not be navigated. Afterwards the Admiral took her to 
Canaria, and they repaired the Pinta very thoroughly through 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 93 

the pains and labor of the Admiral, of Martin Alonso, and of 
the rest. Finally they came to Gomera. They saw a great 
fire issue from the mountain of the island of Tenerife, which 
is of great height. They rigged the Pinta with square sails, 
for she was lateen rigged; and the Admiral reached Gomera 
on Sunday, the 2nd of September, with the Pinta repaired. 

The Admiral says that many honorable Spanish gentlemen 
who were at Gomera with Dona Ines Peraza, mother of Guillen 
Peraza (who was afterwards the first Count of Gomera),- and 
who were natives of the island of Hierro, declared that every 
year they saw land to the west of the Canaries; and others, 
natives of Gomera, affirmed the same on oath. The Admiral 
here says that he remembers, when in Portugal in the year 
1484, a man came to the King from the island of Madeira, to 
beg for a caravel to go to this land that was seen, who swore 
that it could be seen every year, and always in the same way.^ 
He also says that he recollects the same thing being affirmed 
in the islands of the Azores ; and all these lands were described 
as in the same direction, and as being hke each other, and of 
the same size. Having taken in water, wood, and meat, and 
all else that the men had who were left at Gomera by the Ad- 
miral when he went to the island of Canaria to repair the cara- 
vel Pinta, he finally made sail from the said island of Gomera, 
with his three caravels, on Thursday, the 6th day of Sep- 
tember. 

Thursday, Qth of September 

He departed on that day from the port of Gomera in the 
morning, and shaped a course to go on his voyage; having 
received tidings from a caravel that came from the island of 
Hierro that three Portuguese caravels were off that island with 
the object of taking him. (This must have been the result 

^ On June 30, 1484, King John II. of Portugal granted toFernam Domim- 
guez do Arco, " resident in the island of Madeyra, if he finds it, an island which 
he is now going in search of." Alguns Documentos do Archivo Nacional da 
Torre do Tombo, p. 56. 



94 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

of the King's annoyance that Colon should have gone to Cas- 
tile.) There was a calm all that day and night, and in the 
morning he found himself between Gomera and Tenerife. 

Friday, 7th of September 

The calm continued all Friday and Saturday, until the 
third hour of the night. 

Saturday, Sth of September 

At the third hour of Saturday night ^ it began to blow 
from the N.E., and the Admiral shaped a course to the west. 
He took in much sea over the bows, which retarded progress, 
and 9 leagues were made in that day and night. 

Sunday, 9th of September 

This day the Admiral made 19 leagues, and he arranged 
to reckon less than the number run, because if the voyage was 
of long duration, the people would not be so terrified and dis-' 
heartened. In the night he made 120 miles, at the rate of 12 
miles an hour, which are 30 leagues. The sailors steered badly, 
letting the ship fall off to N.E., and even more, respecting 
which the Admiral complained many times.^ 

Monday, 10th of September 

In this day and night he made 60 leagues, at the rate of 
10 miles an hour, which are 2^ leagues; but he only counted 

* Tres horas de noche means three hours after sunset. 

^"On this day [Sunday, Sept. 9] they lost sight of land; and many, 
fearful of not being able to return for a long time to see it, sighed and shed 
tears. But the admiral, after he had comforted all with big offers of much 
land and wealth to keep them in hope and to lessen their fear which they 
had of the long way, when that day the sailors reckoned the distance 18 
leagues, said he had counted only 15, having decided to lessen the record so 
that the crew would not think they were as far from Spain as in fact they 
were." Historic del Signor Don Fernando Colombo (London ed., 1867), 
pp. 61-62. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 95 

48 leagues, that the people might not be alarmed if the voyage 
should be long. 

Tuesday, 11th oj September 

That day they sailed on their course, which was west, and 
made 20 leagues and more. They saw a large piece of the mast 
of a ship of 120 tons, but were unable to get it. In the night 
they made nearly 20 leagues, but only counted 16, for the 
reason already given. 

Wednesday, 12th of September 

That day, steering their course, they made 33 leagues 
during the day and night, counting less. 

Thursday, IZth of September 

That day and night, steering their course, which was west, 
they made 33 leagues, counting 3 or 4 less. The currents 
were against them. On this day, at the commencement of the 
night, the needles turned a half point to north-west, and in 
the morning they turned somewhat more north-west.^ 

* Las Casas in his Historia, 1. 267, says "on that day at nightfall the 
needles northwested that is to say the fleur de lis which marks the north 
was not pointing directly at it but verged somewhat to the left of north and 
in the morning northeasted that is to say the fleur de lis pointed to right 
of the north until sunset." 

The Historie agrees with the text of the Journal that the needle declined 
more to the west, instead of shifting to an eastern declination. 

The author of the ^istone remarks : "This variation no one had ever 
observed up to this time," p. 62. "Columbus had crossed the point of no 
variation, which was then near the meridian of Flores, in the Azores, and 
found the variation no longer easterly, but more than a point westerly. 
His explanation that the pole-star, by means of which the change was de- 
tected, was not itself stationary, is very plausible. For the pole-star really 
does describe a circle round the pole of the earth, equal in diameter to about 
six times that of the sun ; but this is not equal to the change observed in 
the direction of the needle." (Markham.) 



96 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

Friday, lUh of September 

That day they navigated, on their westerly course, day 
and night, 20 leagues, counting a little less. Here those of 
the caravel Nina reported that they had seen a tern ^ and a 
boatswain bird,^ and these birds never go more than 25 leagues 
from the land.^ 

Saturday, 15th of September 

That day and night they made 27 leagues and rather more 
on their west course ; and in the early part of the night there 
fell from heaven into the sea a marvellous flame of fire, at a 
distance of about 4 or 5 leagues from them. 

Sunday, IQth of September 

That day and night they steered their course west, making 
39 leagues, but the Admiral only counted 36. There were 
some clouds and small rain. The Admiral says that on that 
day, and ever afterwards, they met with very temperate 
breezes, so that there was great pleasure in enjoying the 
mornings, nothing being wanted but the song of nightingales. 
He says that the weather was like April in Andalusia. Here 
they began to see many tufts of grass which were very green, 
and appeared to have been quite recently torn from the land. 
From this they judged that they were near some island, but 

* Garjao. This word is not in the Spanish dictionaries that I have con- 
sulted. The translator has followed the French translators MM. Chalu- 
meau de Verneuil and de la Roquette who accepted the opinion of the 
naturalist Cuvier that the Garjao was the hirondelle de mer, the Sterna 
maxima or royal tern. 

^ Rabo de junco, literally, reedtail, is the tropic bird or Phaethon. The 
name "boatswain-bird" is apphed to some other kinds of birds, besides 
the tropic bird. Cf. Alfred Newton, Dictionary of Birds (London, 1896). 
Ferdinand Columbus says: rabo di giunco, "a bird so called because it has 
a long feather in its tail," p. 63. 

^ This remark is, of course, not true of the tropic bird or rabo de 
junco, as was abundantly proved on this voyage. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 97 

not the main land, according to the Admiral, ''because/' as 
he says, ''I make the main land to be more distant." 

Monday, 17th of September 

They proceeded on their west course, and made over 50 
leagues in the day and night, but the Admiral only counted 
47. They were aided by the current. They saw much very 
fine grass and herbs from rocks, which came from the west. 
They, therefore, considered that they were near land. The 
pilots observed the north point, and found that the needles 
turned a full point to the west of north. So the mariners were 
alarmed and dejected, and did not give their reason. But the 
Admiral knew, and ordered that the north should be again 
observed at dawn. They then found that the needles were true. 
The cause was that the star makes the movement, and not the 
needles. At dawn, on that Monday, they saw much more 
weed appearing, like herbs from rivers, in which they found a 
hve crab, which the Admiral kept. He says that these crabs 
are certain signs of land. The sea-water was found to be less 
salt than it had been since leaving the Canaries. The breezes 
were always soft. Every one was pleased, and the best sailers 
went ahead to sight the first land. They saw many tunny- 
fish, and the crew of the Nina killed one. The Admiral here 
says that these signs of land came from the west, ''in which 
direction I trust in that high God in whose hands are all vic- 
tories that very soon we shall sight land." In that morning 
he says that a white bird was seen which has not the habit 
of sleeping on the sea, called rabo de junco (boatswain-bird).^ 

Tuesday, ISth of September 

This day and night they made over 55 leagues, the Admiral 

only counting 48. In all these days the sea was very smooth, 

like the river at Seville. This day Martin Alonso, with the 

Pinta, which was a fast sailer, did not wait, for he said to the 

» See p. 96, note 2. 



/^ 



98 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

Admiral, from his caravel, that he had seen a great multitude 
of birds flying westward, that he hoped to see land that night, 
and that he therefore pressed onward. A great cloud appeared 
in the north, which is a sign of the proximity of land. 

Wednesday, 19th of September 

The Admiral continued on his course, and during the day 
and night he made but 25 leagues because it was calm. He 
counted 22. This day, at 10 o'clock, a booby ^ came to the 
ship, and in the afternoon another arrived, these birds not 
generally going more than 20 leagues from the land. There 
was also some drizzling rain without wind, which is a sure 
sign of land. The Admiral did not wish to cause delay by 
beating to windward to ascertain whether land was near, but 
he considered it certain that there were islands both to the 
north and south of his position, (as indeed there were, and he 
was passing through the middle of them). For his desire was 
to press onwards to the Indies, the weather being fine. For 
on his return, God willing, he could see all. These are his 
own words. Here the pilots found their positions. He of the 
Nina made the Canaries 440 leagues distant, the Pinta 420. 
The pilot of the Admiral's ship made the distance exactly 400 
leagues. 

Thursday, 20th of September 

This day the course was W.b.N., and as her head was all 
round the compass owing to the calm that prevailed,' the 
ship made only 7 or 8 leagues. Two boobies came to the ship, 

* Alcatraz. The rendering "booby" follows Cuvier's note to the 
French translation. The "booby" is the "booby gannet." The Spanish 
dictionaries give pelican as the meaning of Alcatraz. The gannets and the 
pelicans were formerly classed together. The word Alcatraz was taken over 
into English and corrupted to Albatros. Alfred Newton, Dictionary of Birds 
(London, 1896), art. "Albatros." 

* More exactly, " He sailed this day toward the West a quarter northwest 
and half the division [i.e., west by north and west by one eighth northwest] 
because of the veering winds and calm that prevailed." 

/ 

i 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 99 

and afterwards another, a sign of the proximity of land. They 
saw much weed, although none was seen on the previous day. 
They caught a bird with the hand, which was like a tern. But 
it was a river-bird, not a sea-bird, the feet being Uke those of 
a gull. At dawn two or three land-birds came singing to the 
ship, and they disappeared before sunset. Afterwards a 
booby came from W.N.W., and flew to the S.W., which was a 
sign that it left land in the W.N.W. ; for these birds sleep on 
shore, and go to sea in the mornings in search of food, not 
extending their flight more than 20 leagues from the land. 

Friday, 21st oj September 

Most of the day it was calm, and later there was a little 
wind. During the day and night they did not make good 
more than 13 leagues. At dawn they saw so much weed that 
the sea appeared to be covered with it, and it came from the 
west. A booby was seen. The sea was very smooth, hke a 
river, and the air the best in the world. They saw a whale, 
which is a sign that they were near land, because they always 
keep near the shore. 

Saturday, 22nd of September 

They shaped a course W.N.W. more or less, her head turn- 
ing from one to the other point, and made 30 leagues. Scarcely 
any weed was seen. They saw some sandpipers and another 
bird. Here the Admiral says : ''This contrary wind was very 
necessary for me, because my people were much excited at 
the thought that in these seas no wind ever blew in the direc- 
tion of Spain." Part of the day there was no weed, and later 
it was very thick. 

Sunday, 23rd of September 

They shaped a course N.W., and at times more northerly; 
occasionally they were on their course, which was west, 
and they made about 22 leagues. They saw a dove and a 



100 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

booby, another river-bird, and some white birds. There was 
a great deal of weed, and they found crabs in it. The sea 
being smooth and calm, the crew began to murmur, saying 
that here there was no great sea, and that the wind would 
never blow so that they could return to Spain. Afterwards 
the sea rose very much, without wind, which astonished them. 
The Admiral here says : " Thus the high sea was very necessary 
to me, such as had not appeared but in the time of the Jews 
when they went out of Egypt and murmured against Moses, 
who dehvered them out of captivity." ^ 

Monday, 2Uh of September 

The Admiral went on his west course all day and night, 
making 14 leagues. He counted 12. A booby came to the 
ship, and many sandpipers.^ 

Tuesday, 25th of September 

This day began with a calm, and afterwards there was 
wind. They were on their west course until night. The Ad- 
miral conversed with Martin Alonso Pinzon, captain of the 
other caravel Pinta, respecting a chart which he had sent to 
the caravel three days before, on which, as it would appear, 

* The abridger of the original journal missed the point here and his epit- 
ome is unintelligible. Las Casas says in his Historia, I. 275: "The Admiral 
says in this place that the adverseness of the winds and the high sea were 
very necessary to him since they freed the crew of their erroneous idea that 
there would be no favorable sea and winds for their return and thereby they 
received some relief of mind or were not in so great despair, yet even then 
some objected, saying that that wind would not last, up to the Sunday 
following, when they had nothing to answer when they saw the sea so high. 
By which means, Cristobal Colon says here, God dealt with him and with 
them as he dealt with Moses and the Jews when he drew them from Egypt 
showing signs to favor and aid him and to their confusion." 

^ Las Casas, Historia, I. 275-276, here describes with detail the discon- 
tent of the sailors and their plots to put Columbus out of the way. The 
passage is translated in Thacher, Christopher Columbus, I. 524. The word 
rendered "sandpipers" is pardelas, petrels. The French translation has 
petrels tachetes, i.e., "pintado petrels," or cape pigeons. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 101 

the Admiral had certainis lands depicted in that sea/ Martin 
Alonso said that the ships were in the position on which the 
islands were placed, and the Admiral replied that so it appeared 
to him : but it might be that they had not fallen in with them, 
owing to the currents which had always set the ships to the 
N.E., and that they had not made so much as the pilots re- 
ported. The Admiral then asked for the chart to be returned, 
and it was sent back on a line.^ The Admiral then began to 

^ More exactly, "On which it seems the Admiral had painted cer- 
tain islands." The Spanish reads: " donde segun parece tenia pintadas el 
Almirante ciertas islas," etc. The question is whether Columbus made the 
map or had it made. The rendering of the note is supported by the 
French translators and by Harrisse. 

^ Las Casas, I. 279, says : "This map is the one which Paul, the physi- 
cian, the Florentine, sent, which I have in my possession with other articles 
which belonged to the Admiral himself who discovered these Lidies, and writ- 
ings in his own hand which came into my possession. In it he depicted many 
islands and the main land which were the beginning of India and in that 
region the realms of the Grand Khan," etc. Las Casas does not tell us how 
he knew that the Toscanelli map which he found in Columbus's papers was 
the map that the Admiral used on the first voyage. That is the general 
assumption of scholars, but there is no positive evidence of the fact. The 
Toscanelli map is no longer extant, and all reconstructions of it are based on 
the globe of Martin Behaim constructed in 1492. The reconstruction by 
H. Wagner which may be seen in S. Ruge, Columbus, 2'^ aufi. (Berlin, 1902) 
is now accepted as the most successful. 

According to the reckoning of the distances in the Journal, Columbus 
was now about 550 leagues or 2200 Italian miles west of the Canaries. The 
ToscanelU map was divided off into spaces each containing 250 miles. Colum- 
bus was therefore nine spaces west of the Canaries. No reconstruction of 
Toscanelli 's map puts any islands at nine spaces from the Canaries except 
so far as the reconstructors insert the island of Antilia on the basis of Behaim 's 
globe. The Antilia of Behaim according to Wagner was eight spaces west 
of the Canaries. Again Ferdinand Columbus, in his Historie under date of 
October 7 (p. 72), says the sailors "had been frequently told by him that he 
did not look for land until they had gone 750 leagues west from the Canaries, 
at which distance he had told them he would have found Espanola then 
called Cipango." 750 leagues or 3000 Italian miles would be 12 spaces 
on the Toscanelli map. But according to the Toscanelli letter Cipango 
was 10 spaces west of Antilia, and therefore 18 spaces or 4500 miles west 
of the Canaries. Columbus then seems to have expected to find Cipango 
some 1500 miles to the east of where it was placed on the Toscanelli map. 
These considerations justify a very strong doubt whether Columbus was 
shaping his course and basing his expectations on the data of the Tosca- 
nelli letter and map, or whether the fact that Las Casas found what he 



102 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

plot the position on it, with the pilot and mariners. At sun- 
set Martin Alonso went up on the poop of his ship, and with 
much joy called to the Admiral, claiming the reward as he had 
sighted land. When the Admiral heard this positively de- 
clared, he says that he gave thanks to the Lord on his knees, 
while Martin Alonso said the Gloria in excelsis with his people. 
The Admiral's crew did the same. Those of the Nina all went 
up on the mast and into the rigging, and declared that it was 
land. It so seemed to the Admiral, and that it was distant 
25 leagues. They all continued to declare it was land until 
night. The Admiral ordered the course to be altered from 
W. to S.W., in which direction the land had appeared. That 
day they made 4 leagues on a west course, and 17 S.W. during 
the night, in all 21 ; but the people were told that 13 was the 
distance made good: for it was always feigned to them that 
the distances were less, so that the voyage might not appear 
so long. Thus two reckonings were kept on this voyage, the 
shorter being feigned, and the longer being the true one. The 
sea was very smooth, so that many sailors bathed alongside. 
They saw many dorados^ and other fish. 

Wednesday, 26th of September 

The Admiral continued on the west course until afternoon. 
Then he altered course to S.W., until he made out that what 
had been said to be land was only clouds. Day and night 
they made 31 leagues, counting 24 for the people. The sea 
was Uke a river, the air pleasant and very mild. 

Thursday, 27 th of September 

The course west, and distance made good during day and 
night 24 leagues, 20 being counted for the people. Many 
dorados came. One was killed. A boatswain-bird came. 

took to be the Toscanelli map in the Admiral's papers proves that it was 
that map which he had on his first voyage. 

^ Dorado is defined by Stevens as the dory or gilt head. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 103 

Friday, 2Sth of September 

The course was west, and the distance, owing to cahns, 
only 14 leagues in day and night, 13 leagues being counted. 
They met with Httle weed ; but caught two dorados, and more 
in the other ships. 

Saturday, 29th of September 

The course was west, and they made 24 leagues, counting 
21 for the people. Owing to calms, the distance made good 
during day and night was not much. They saw a bird called 
rabiforcado ^ (man-o'-war bird), which makes the boobies 
vomit what they have swallowed, and eats it, maintaining 
itself on nothing else. It is a sea-bird, but does not sleep on 
the sea, and does not go more than 20 leagues from the land. 
There are many of them at the Cape Verde Islands. After- 
wards they saw two boobies. The air was very mild and agree- 
able, and the Admiral says that nothing was wanting but to 
hear the nightingale. The sea smooth as a river. Later, 
three boobies and a man-o'-war bird were seen three times. 
There was much weed. 

Sunday, SOth of September 

The western course was steered, and during the day and 
night, owing to calms, only 14 leagues were made, 11 being 
counted. Four boatswain-birds came to the ship, which is a 
great sign of land, for so many birds of this kind together is a 
sign that they are not straying or lost. They also twice saw 
four boobies. There was much weed. Note that the stars 
which are called Las Guardias (the Pointers^), when night 

* Rabiforcado, Portuguese. The Spanish form is rahihorcado. It means 
"forked tail." The modern EngHsh equivalent is "frigate bird." It is 
"the Fregata aquila of most ornithologists, the Fregate of French and the 
Rabihorcado of Spanish mariners." Newton, Dictionary of Birds, art. 
"Frigate-Bird." Newton says that the name "man-of-war bird " has gen- 
erally passed out of use in books. 

^ Rather, the Guards, the name given to the two brightest stars in 
the constellation of the Little Bear. The Uteral translation is : "the Guards, 



104 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

comes on, are near the western point, and when dawn breaks 
they are near the N.E. point ; so that, during the whole night, 
they do not appear to move more than three lines or 9 hours, 
and this on each night. The Admiral says this, and also 
that at nightfall the needles vary a point westerly, while at 
dawn they agree exactly with the star. From this it would 
appear that the north star has a movement Uke the other 
stars, while the needles always pomt correctly. 

Monday, 1st of October 

Course west, and 25 leagues made good, counted for the 
crew as 20 leagues. There was a heavy shower of rain. At 
dawn the Admiral's pilot made the distance from Hierro 578 
leagues to the west. The reduced reckoning which the Admi- 
ral showed to the crew made it 584 leagues; but the truth 
which the Admiral observed and kept secret was 707. 

Tuesday, 2nd of October 

Course west, and during the day and night 39 leagues were 
made good, counted for the crew as 30. The sea always 
smooth. Many thanks be given to God, says the Admiral, 
that the weed is coming from east to west, contrary to its usual 
course. Many fish were seen, and one was killed. A white 
bird was also seen that appeared to be a gull. 

Wednesday, Srd of October 

They navigated on the usual course, and made good 47 
leagues, counted as 40. Sandpipers appeared, and much 
weed, some of it very old and some quite fresh and having 
fruit. They saw no birds. The Admiral, therefore, thought 
that they had left the islands behind them which were depicted 

when night comes on, are near the arm on the side to the west, and when 
dawn breaks they are on the line under the arm to the northeast," etc. 
What Columbus meant I cannot explain. Neither Navarrete nor the 
French translators offer any suggestions. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 105 

on the charts. The Admiral here says that he did not wish to 
keep the ships beating about during the last week, and in the 
last few days when there were so many signs of land, although 
he had information of certain islands in this region. For he 
wished to avoid delay, his object being to reach the Indies. 
He says that to delay would not be wise.^ 

Thursday, Uh of October 

Course west, and 63 leagues made good during the day 
and night, counted as 46. More than forty sandpipers came 
to the ship in a flock, and two boobies, and a ship's boy hit one 
with a stone. There also came a man-o'-war bird and a white 
bird Hke a gull. 

Friday, 5th of October 

The Admiral steered his course, going 11 miles an hour, and 
during the day and night they made good 57 leagues, as the 
wind increased somewhat during the night : 45 were counted. 
The sea was smooth and quiet. ''To God," he says, "be 
many thanks given, the air being pleasant and temperate, with 
no weed, many sandpipers, and flying-fish coming on the deck 
in numbers." 

* Las Casas, I. 282, adds to the foregoing under date of October 3 : "He 
says here that it would not have been good sense to beat about and in that 
way to be delayed in search of them [i.e., the islands] since he had favor- 
able weather and his chief intention was to go in search of the Indies by 
way of the west, and this was what he proposed to the King and Queen, and 
they had sent him for that purpose. Because he would not turn back to beat 
up and down to find the islands which the pilots believed to be there, par- 
ticularly Martin Alonzo by the chart which, as was said, Cristobal Colon had 
sent to his caravel for him to see, and it was their opinion that he ought 
to turn, they began to stir up a mutiny, and the disagreement would have 
gone farther if God had not stretched out his arm as he was wont, showing 
immediately new signs of their being near land since now neither soft words 
nor entreaties nor prudent reasoning of Cristdbal Colon availed to quiet 
them and to persuade them to persevere." Ferdinand Columbus says 
simply, " For this reason the crew began to be mutinous, persevering in 
their complaints and plots," p. 7L See page 108, note 1. 



106 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

Saturday, &h of October 

The Admiral continued his west course, and during day and 
night they made good 40 leagues, 33 being counted. This 
night Martin Alonso said that it would be well to steer south of 
west,^ and it appeared to the Admiral that Martin Alonso did 
not say this with respect to the island of Cipango.^ He saw 
that if an error was made the land would not be reached so 
quickly, and that consequently it would be better to go at 
once to the continent and afterwards to the islands. 

Sunday, 7th of October 

The west course was continued; for two hours they went 
at the rate of 12 miles an hour, and afterwards 8 miles an hour. 
They made good 23 leagues, counting 18 for the people. This 
day, at sunrise, the caravel Nina, which went ahead, being the 
best sailer, and pushed forward as much as possible to sight 
the land first, so as to enjoy the reward which the Sovereigns 
had promised to whoever should see it first, hoisted a flag at 
the mast-head and fired a gun, as a signal that she had sighted 
land, for such was the Admiral's order. He had also ordered 
that, at sunrise and sunset, all the ships should join him ; be- 
cause those two times are most proper for seeing the greatest 
distance, the haze clearing away. No land was seen during the 
afternoon, as reported by the caravel Nina, and they passed 
a great number of birds flying from N. to S.W. This gave rise 
to the behef that the birds were either going to sleep on land, 
or were flying from the winter which might be supposed to be 
near in the land whence they were coming. The Admiral 
was aware that most of the islands held by the Portuguese 
were discovered by the flight of birds. For this reason he 

* A la cuarta del Oueste, d la parte del Sudueste, at the quarter from the 
west toward the southwest, i.e., west by south. 

^ Las Casas, in the Historia de las Indias, I. 283, writes, "That night 
Martin Alonso said that it would be well to sail west by south for the island 
of Cipango which the map that Cristdbal Colon showed him represented." 
Cf. page 101, note 2. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 107 

resolved to give up the west course, and to shape a course 
W.S.W. for the two following days/ He began the new course 
one hour before sunset. They made good, during the night, 
about 5 leagues, and 23 in the day, altogether 28 leagues. 

Monday, 8th of October 

The course was W.S.W., and 11| or 12 leagues were made 
good in the day and night ; and at times it appears that they 
went at the rate of 15 miles an hour during the night (if the 
handwriting is not deceptive).^ The sea was hke the river at 
Seville. ''Thanks be to God," says the Admiral, ''the air 
is very soft like the April at Seville ; and it is a pleasure to be 
here, so balmy are the breezes." The weed seemed to be very 
fresh. There were many land-birds, and they took one that 
was flying to the S.W. Tems,^ ducks, and a booby were also 
seen. 

Tuesday, 9th of October 

The course was S.W., and they made 5 leagues. The 
wind then changed, and the Admiral steered W. by N. 4 leagues. 
Altogether, in day and night, they made 11 leagues by day 
and 20J leagues by night; counted as 17 leagues altogether. 
Throughout the night birds were heard passing. 

Wednesday, 10th of October 

The course was W.S.W. , and they went at the rate of 10 
miles an hour, occasionally 12 miles, and sometimes 7. During 

' Las Casas remarks, I. 285, " If he had kept up the direct westerly course 
and the impatience of the Castilians had not hindered him, there is no doubt 
that he would have struck the main land of Florida and from there to New 
Spain, although the difficulties would have been unparalleled and the losses 
unbearable that they would have met with, and it would have been a divine 
miracle if he had ever returned to Castile." 

^ A remark by the abridger who noted the inconsistency between a total 
of 48 miles for a day and night and even an occasional 15 miles per hour. 

^ Grajaos. The translator assumed this to be the same as garjao; the 
French translators, on the other hand, took it to be the same as grajos, 
crows. In Portuguese dictionaries the word grajclo is found as the name of 
"an Indian bird." 



108 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

the day and night they made 59 leagues, counted as no more 
than 44. Here the people could endure no longer. They 
complained of the length of the voyage. But the Admiral 
cheered them up in the best way he could, giving them good 
hopes of the advantages they might gain from it. He added 
that, however much they might complain, he had to go to the 
Indies, and that he would go on until he found them, with the 
help of our Lord.^ 

Thursday, 11th of October 

The course was W.S.W., and there was more sea than there 
had been during the whole of the voyage. They saw sand- 
pipers, and a green reed near the ship. Those of the caravel 
Pinta saw a cane and a pole, and they took up another small 
pole which appeared to have been worked with iron; also 
another bit of cane, a land-plant, and a small board. The 
crew of the caravel Nina also saw signs of land, and a small 
branch covered with berries.^ Every one breathed afresh and 
rejoiced at these signs. The run until sunset was 27 leagues. 

After sunset the Admiral returned to his original west 
course, and they went along at the rate of 12 miles an hour. 
Up to two hours after midnight they had gone 90 miles, equal 
to 22 1 leagues. As the caravel Pinta was a better sailer, and 
went ahead of the Admiral, she found the land, and made the 

^ The trouble with the captains and the sailors is told in greatest detail 
by Oviedo, Historia de las Indias, lib. ii., cap. v. He is the source of the 
story that the captains finally declared they would go on three days longer 
and not another hour. Oviedo does not say that Columbus acquiesced in 
this arrangement. Modern critics have been disposed to reject Oviedo's 
account, but strictly interpreted, it is not inconsistent with our other sources. 
Columbus recalls in his Journal, February 14, 1493, the terror of the situation 
which was evidently more serious than the entry of October 10 would 
imply. Peter Martyr too says that the sailors plotted to throw Columbus 
overboard and adds: "After the thirtieth day roused by madness they 
declared they were going back," but that Columbus pacified them. De Rebus 
Oceanicis, Dec. lib. i., fol. 2, ed. of 1574. Oviedo says that he derived in- 
formation from Vicente Yanez Pinzon, "since with him I had a friendship 
up to the year 1514 when he died." Historia de las Indias, ii., cap. xiii. 

^ Escaramojos. Wild roses. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 109 

signals ordered by the Admiral. The land was first seen by a 
sailor named Rodrigo de Triana/ But the Admiral, at ten 
o'clock, being on the castle of the poop,^ saw a light, though 
it was so uncertain that he could not affirm it was land. He 
called Pero Gutierrez, a gentleman of the King's bed-chamber, 
and said that there seemed to be a hght, and that he should 
look at it. He did so, and saw it.^ The Admiral said the same 
to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, whom the King and Queen 
had sent with the fleet as inspector, but he could see nothing, 
because he was not in a place whence anything could be seen. 
After the Admiral had spoken he saw the light once or twice, 
and it was like a wax candle rising and falling. It seemed to 
few to be an indication of land ; but the Admiral made certain 
that land was close. When they said the Salve, which all the 
sailors were accustomed to sing in their way, the Admiral 
asked and admonished the men to keep a good look-out on the 
forecastle, and to watch well for land ; and to him who should 
first cry out that he saw land, he would give a silk doublet, 
besides the other rewards promised by the Sovereigns, which 
were 10,000 maravedis to him who should first see it.^ At 
two hours after midnight the land was sighted at a distance of 



* It was full moon on October 5. On the night of the 11th the moon rose 
at 11 P.M. and at 2 a.m. on the morning of the 12th it was 39° above the 
horizon. It would be shining brightly on the sandy shores of an island some 
miles ahead, being in its third quarter, and a little behind Rodrigo de Triana, 
when he sighted land at 2 a.m. (Markham.) 

^ The high decks fore and aft were called castles. The name survives in 
the English forecastle, Stevens gives poop alone as the English for Castilla 
de popa. 

^ Oviedo, lib. ii., cap. v., says that, as they were sailing along, a sailor, a 
native of Lepe, cried out, "Light," "Land," but was immediately told that 
the admiral had already seen it and remarked upon it. 

* Columbus received this award. His claiming or accepting it under the 
circumstances has been considered discreditable and a breach of faith by 
many modern writers. Oviedo says the native of Lepe was so indignant at 
not getting the reward that " he went over into Africa and denied the faith," 
i.e., became a Mohammedan. Las Casas seems to have seen no impropriety 
in Columbus' accepting the award. He tells us, I. 289, that this annuity 
was paid to Columbus throughout his life and was levied from the butcher 
shops of Seville. A maravedi was equal to two-thirds of a cent. 



110 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

two leagues. They shortened sail, and lay by under the main- 
sail without the bonnets. 

[Friday, 12th of October]^ 

The vessels were hove to, waiting for dayhght; and on 
Friday they arrived at a small island of the Lucayos, called, 
in the language of the Indians, Guanahani.^ Presently they 
saw naked people. The Admiral went on shore in the armed 
boat, and Martin Alonso Pinzon, and Vicente Yanez, his 
brother, who was captain of the Nina. The Admiral took the 
royal standard, and the captains went with two banners of the 
green cross, which the Admiral took in all the ships as a sign, 
with an F and a Y ^ and a crown over each letter, one on one 
side of the cross and the other on the other. Having landed, 
they saw trees very green, and much water, and fruits of diverse 
kinds. The Admiral called to the two captains, and to the 
others who leaped on shore, and to Rodrigo Escovedo, secre- 
tary of the whole fleet, and to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia,^ and 
said that they should bear faithful testimony that he, in 
presence of all, had taken, as he now took, possession of the 
said island ^ for the King and for the Queen his Lords, making 
the declarations that are required, as is now largely set forth 
in the testimonies which were then made in writing. 

Presently many inhabitants of the island assembled. 
What follows is in the actual words of the Admiral in his book 
of the first navigation and discovery of the Indies.^ "I," he 
says, 'Hhat we might form great friendsliip, for I knew that 
they were a people who could be more easily freed and con- 
verted to our holy faith by love than by force, gave to some 

* Pronounced originally, according to Las Casas, I. 291, with the accent 
on the last syllable. Guanahani is now generally accepted to have been 
Watling Island. See Markham, Christopher Columbus, pp. 89-107, for a 
lucid discussion of the landfall. 

^ Fernando and Ysabel. 

' The royal inspector. 

* Las Casas adds, L 293, "To which he gave the name Sant Salvador." 

^ We have here perhaps the original title of what in its abridged form 
we now call the Journal. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIEST VOYAGE 111 

of them red caps, and glass b§ads to put round their necks, 
and many other things of Httle value, which gave them great 
pleasure, and made them so much our friends that it was a 
marvel to see. They afterwards came to the ship's boats 
where we were, swimming and bringing us parrots, cotton 
threads in skeins, darts, and many other things; and we ex- 
changed them for other things that we gave them, such as 
glass beads and small bells. In fine, they took all, and gave 
what they had with good will. It appeared to me to be a 
race of people very poor in everything. They go as naked as 
when their mothers bore them, and so do the women, although 
I did not see more than one young girl. All I saw were youths, 
none more than thirty years of age. They are very well made, 
with very handsome bodies, and very good countenances. 
Their hair is short and coarse, almost like the hairs of a horse's 
tail. They wear the hairs brought down to the eyebrows, 
except a few locks behind, which they wear long and never 
cut. They paint themselves black, and they are the color of 
the Canarians, neither black nor white. Some paint them- 
selves white, others red, and others of what color they find. 
Some paint their faces, others the whole body, some only 
round the eyes, others only on the nose. They neither carry 
nor know anything of arms, for I showed them swords, and 
they took them by the blade and cut themselves through 
ignorance. They have no iron, their darts being wands with- 
out iron, some of them having a fish's tooth at the end, and 
others being pointed in various ways. They are all of fair 
stature and size, with good faces, and well made. I saw some 
with marks of wounds on their bodies, and I made signs to 
ask what it was, and they gave me to understand that people 
from other adjacent islands came with the intention of seiz- 
ing them, and that they defended themselves. I believed, 
and still beheve, that they come here from the mainland to 
take them prisoners. They should be good servants and 
intelhgent, for I observed that they quickly took in what was 
said to them, and I believe that they would easily be made 
Christians, as it appeared to me that they had no rehgion. 



112 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

1; our Lord being pleased, will take hence, at the time of my de- 
parture, six natives for your Highnesses, that they may leani 
to speak. I saw no beast of any kind except parrots, on this 
island." The above is in the words of the Admiral. 

Saturday, ISth of October 

''As soon as dawn broke many of these people came to the 
beach, all youths, as I have said, and all of good stature, a 
very handsome people. Their hair is not curly, but loose and 
coarse, hke horse hair. In all the forehead is broad, more so 
than in any other people I have hitherto seen. Their eyes 
are very beautiful and not small, and themselves far from 
black, but the color of the Canarians. Nor should anything 
else be expected, as this island is in a line east and west from 
the island of Hierro in the Canaries. Their legs are very 
straight, all in one line, and no belly, but very well formed. 
They came to the ship in small canoes, made out of the trunk 
of a tree like a long boat, and all of one piece, and wonder- 
fully worked, considering the country. They are large, some 
of them holding 40 to 45 men, others smaller, and some only 
large enough to hold one man. They are propelled with a 
paddle like a baker's shovel, and go at a marvellous rate. If 
the canoe capsizes, they all promptly begin to swim, and to 
bale it out with calabashes that they take with them. They 
brought skeins of cotton thread, parrots, darts, and other small 
things which it would be tedious to recount, and they give all 
in exchange for anything that may be given to them. I was 
attentive, and took trouble to ascertain if there was gold. I 
saw that some of them had a small piece fastened in a hole they 
have in the nose, and by signs I was able to make out that to 
the south, or going from the island to the south, there was a 
king who had great cups full, and who possessed a great 
quantity. I tried to get them to go there, but afterwards I 
saw that they had no inclination. I resolved to wait until 
to-morrow in the afternoon and then to depart, shaping a course 
to the S.W., for, according to what many of them told me. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 118 

there was land to the S., to the S.W., and N.W., and that the 
natives from the N.W. often came to attack them, and went 
on to the S.W. in search of gold and precious stones. 

' ' This island is rather large and very flat, with bright green 
trees, much water, and a very large lake in the centre, without 
any mountain, and the whole land so green that it is a pleasure 
to look on it. The people are very docile, and for the longing to 
possess our tilings, and not having anytliing to give in return, 
they take what they can get, and presently swim away. Still, 
they give away all they have got, for whatever may be given 
to them, down to broken bits of crockery and glass. I saw 
one give 16 skeins of cotton for three ceotis ^ of Portugal, equal 
to one blanca of Spain, the skeins being as much as an arroha 
of cotton thi'ead. I shall keep it, and shall allow no one to 
take it, preserving it all for your Highnesses, for it may be 
obtained in abundance. It is grown in this island, though 
the short time did not admit of my ascertaining this for a 
certainty. Here also is found the gold they wear fastened in 
their noses. But, in order not to lose time, I intend to go and 
see if I can find the island of Cipango." Now, as it is night, 
all the natives have gone on shore with their canoes." 

Sunday, 14:th of October 

''At dawn I ordered the ship's boat and the boats of the 
caravels to be got ready, and I went along the coast of the isl- 
and to the N.N.E., to see the other side, wliich was on the 
other side to the east, and also to see the villages. Presently 
I saw two or three, and the people all came to the shore, call- 
ing out and giving thanks to God. Some of them brought us 
water, others came with food, and when they saw that I did 
not want to land, they got into the sea, and came swimming to 
us. We understood that they asked us if we had come from 
heaven. One old man came into the boat, and others cried 

* The Portuguese ceitil (pi. ceitis) was a small coin deriving its name from 
Ceuta, opposite Gibraltar, in Africa, a Portuguese possession. The blanca 
was one-half a maravedi, or about one-third of a cent. 

^ Cipango. Marco Polo's name for Japan. 



114 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

out, in loud voices, to all the men and women, to come and 
see the men who had come from heaven, and to bring them to 
eat and drink. Many came, including women, each bringing 
something, giving thanks to God, throwing themselves on the 
ground and shouting to us to come on shore. But I was 
afraid to land, seeing an extensive reef of rocks which sur- 
rounded the island, with deep water between it and the shore 
forming a port large enough for as many ships as there are in 
Christendom, but with a very narrow entrance. It is true 
that within this reef there are some sunken rocks, but the sea 
has no more motion than the water in a well. In order to see 
all this I went this morning, that I might be able to give a full 
account to your Highnesses, and also where a fortress might be 
established. I saw a piece of land which appeared hke an 
island, although it is not one, and on it there were six houses. 
It might be converted into an island in two days, though I do 
not see that it would be necessary, for these people are very 
simple as regards the use of arms, as your Highnesses will see 
from the seven that I caused to be taken, to bring home and 
learn our language and return ; unless your Highnesses should 
order them all to be brought to Castile, or to be kept as cap- 
tives on the same island; for with fifty men they can all be 
subjugated and made to do what is required of them. Close 
to the above peninsula there are gardens of the most beauti- 
ful trees I ever saw, and with leaves as green as those of Cas- 
tile in the month of April and May, and much water. I 
examined all that port, and afterwards I returned to the ship 
and made sail. I saw so many islands that I hardly knew 
how to determine to which I should go first. Those natives 
I had with me said, by signs, that there were so many that 
they could not be numbered, and they gave the names of more 
than a hundred. At last I looked out for the largest, and 
resolved to shape a course for it, and so I did. It will be dis- 
tant five leagues from this of San Salvador, and the others 
some more, some less. All are very flat, and all are inhabited. 
The natives make war on each other, although these are very 
simple-minded and handsomely-formed people." 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIEST VOYAGE 115 

Monday, 15th of October 

"1 had laid by during the night, with the fear of reaching 
the land to anchor before daylight/ not knowing whether the 
coast was clear of rocks, and at dawn I made sail. As the 
island was more than 5 leagues distant and nearer 7, and the 
tide checked my way, it was noon when we arrived at the said 
island. I found that side facing towards the island of San 
Salvador trended north and south with a length of 5 leagues, 
and the other which I followed ran east and west for more than 
10 leagues.^ As from this island I saw another larger one to 
the west, I clued up ^ the sails, after having run all that day 
until night, otherwise I could not have reached the western 
cape. I gave the name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion * 
to the island, and almost as the sun set I anchored near the 
said cape to ascertain if it contained gold. For the people I 
had taken from the island of San Salvador told me that here 
they wore very large rings of gold on their arms and legs. I 
really believed that all they said was nonsense, invented that 
they might escape. My desire was not to pass any island with- 
out taking possession, so that, one having been taken, the same 
may be said of all. I anchored, and remained imtil to-day, 
Tuesday, when I went to the shore with the boats armed, and 
landed. The people, who were numerous, went naked, and 
were Hke those of the other island of San Salvador. They let 
us go over the island, and gave us what we required. As the 
wind changed to the S.E., I did not like to stay, and returned 
to the ship. A large canoe was alongside the Nina, and one 
of the men of the island of San Salvador, who was on board, 
jumped into the sea and got into the canoe. In the middle 
of the night before, another swam away behind the canoe, 

^ Rather, "I had lain to during the night for fear of reaching the land," 
etc. 

^ These lengths are exaggerated. 

'The word is cargu6 and means "raised" or "hoisted." The same 
word seven lines above was translated "made sail." Las Casas in the 
corresponding passage in his Historia uses alzar. 

* Identified as Rimi Cay. 



116 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

which fled, for there never was boat that could have overtaken 
her, seeing that in speed they have a great advantage.^ So 
they reached the land and left the canoe. Some of my people 
went on shore in chase of them, but they all fled like fowls, 
and the canoe they had left was brought alongside the caravel 
Nina, whither, from another direction, another small canoe 
came, with a man who wished to barter with skeins of cotton. 
Some sailors jumped into the sea, because he would not come 
on board the caravel, and seized him. I was on the poop of 
my ship, and saw everything. So I sent for the man, gave 
him a red cap, some small beads of green glass, which I put on 
his arms, and small bells, wMch I put in his ears, and ordered 
his canoe, which was also on board, to be returned to him. 
I sent him on shore, and presently made sail to go to the other 
large island which was in sight to the westward. I also 
ordered the other large canoe, which the caravel Nina was 
towing astern, to be cast adrift ; and I soon saw that it reached 
the land at the same time as the man to whom I had given 
the above things. I had not wished to take the skein of cotton 
that he offered me. All the others came round him and seemed 
astonished, for it appeared clear to them that we were good 
people. The other man who had fled might do us some harm, 
because we had carried him off, and for that reason I ordered 
this man to be set free and gave liim the above things, that he 
might think well of us, otherwise, when your Higlmesses again 
send an expedition, they might not be friendly. All the 
presents I gave were not worth four maravedis. At 10 we 
departed with the wind S.W., and made for the south, to reach 
that other island, which is very large, and respecting which 
all the men that I bring from San Salvador make signs that 
there is much gold, and that they wear it as bracelets on the 
arms, on the legs, in the ears and nose, and round the neck. 

' A line is missing in the original. The text may be restored as follows, 
beginning with the end of the preceding sentence, "jumped into the sea 
and got into the canoe ; in the middle of the night before the other threw 
[himself into the sea and swam off. The boat was lowered] and put after 
the canoe which escaped since there never was a boat which could have 
overtaken him, since we were far behind him." 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 117 

The distance of this island from that of Santa Maria is 9 leagues 
on a course east to west. All this part of the island trends 
N.W. and S.E., and it appeared that this coast must have 
a length of 28 leagues. It is very flat, without any mountain, 
like San Salvador and Santa Maria, all being beach without 
rocks, except that there are some sunken rocks near the land, 
whence it is necessary to keep a good lookout when it is de- 
sired to anchor, and not to come to very near the land; but 
the water is always very clear, and the bottom is visible. At 
a distance of two shots of a lombard, there is, off all these 
islands, such a depth that the bottom cannot be reached. 
These islands are very green and fertile, the climate very mild. 
They may contain many tilings of wliich I have no Icnowledge, 
for I do not wish to stop, in discovering and visiting many 
islands, to find gold. These people make signs that it is worn 
on the arms and legs ; and it must be gold, for they point to 
some pieces that I have. I cannot err, with the help of our 
Lord, in finding out where this gold has its origin. Being in 
the middle of the channel between these two islands, that is to 
say, that of Santa Maria and this large one, to wliich I give the 
name of Fernandina/ I came upon a man alone in a canoe 
going from Santa Maria to Fernandina. He had a little of 
their bread, about the size of a fist, a calabash of water, a 
piece of brown earth powdered and then kneaded, and some 
dried leaves, which must be a thing highly valued by them,^ 
for they bartered with it at San Salvador. He also had with 
him a native basket with a string of glass beads, and two 
blancas, by which I knew that he had come from the island of 
San Salvador, and had been to Santa Maria, and thence to 
Fernandina. He came alongside the ship, and I made him 
come on board as he desired, also getting the canoe inboard, 
and taking care of all his property. I ordered him to be given 
to eat bread and treacle, and also to drink : and so I shall take 
him on to Fernandina, where I shall return everything to him, 
in order that he may give a good account of us, that, our 

^ Long Island. (Markham.) 

^ Possibly a reference to tobacco. 



118 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

Lord pleasing, when your Highnesses shall send here, those 
who come may receive honor, and that the natives may give 
them all they require." 

Tuesday, IQth of October 

"I sailed from the island of Santa Maria de la Concepcion 
at about noon, to go to Fernandina Island, which appeared 
very large to the westward, and I navigated all that day with 
light winds. I could not arrive in time to be able to see the 
bottom, so as to drop the anchor on a clear place, for it is 
necessary to be very careful not to lose the anchors. So I 
stood off and on all that night until day, when I came to an 
inhabited place where I anchored, and whence that man had 
come that I found yesterday in the canoe in mid channel. He 
had given such a good report of us that there was no want of 
canoes alongside the ship all that night, which brought us 
water and what they had to offer. I ordered each one to be 
given something, such as a few beads, ten or twelve of those 
made of glass on a thread, some timbrels made of brass such 
as are worth a maravedi in Spain, and some straps, all which 
they looked upon as most excellent. I also ordered them to 
be given treacle to eat when they came on board. At three 
o'clock ^ I sent the ship's boat on shore for water, and the 
natives with good will showed my people where the water was, 
and they themselves brought the full casks down to the boat, 
and did all they could to please us. 

''This island is very large, and I have determined to sail 
round it, because, so far as I can understand, there is a mine in 
or near it. The island is eight leagues from Santa Maria, nearly 
east and west ; and this point I had reached, as well as all the 
coast, trends N.N.W. and S.S.E. I saw at least 20 leagues 
of it, and then it had not ended. Now, as I am writing this, I 
made sail with the wind at the south, to sail round the island, 

* It should be "about nine o'clock." The original is d horas de tercia, 
which means "at the hour of tierce," i.e., the period between nine and 

twelve. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 119 

and to navigate until I find Samaot, which is the island or 
city where there is gold, as all the natives say who are on board, 
and as those of San Salvador and Santa Maria told us. These 
people resemble those of the said islands, with the same lan- 
guage and customs, except that these appear to me a rather 
more domestic and tractable people, yet also more subtle. 
For I observed that those who brought cotton and other trifles 
to the ship, knew better than the others how to make a bar- 
gain. In this island I saw cotton cloths made like mantles. 
The people were better disposed, and the women wore in front 
of their bodies a small piece of cotton which scarcely covered 
them. 

''It is a very green island, level and very fertile, and I have 
no doubt that they sow and gather corn ^ all the year round, 
as well as other things. I saw many trees very unlike those 
of our country. Many of them have their branches growing 
in different ways and all from one trunk, and one twig is one 
form, and another in a different shape, and so unhke that it is 
the greatest wonder in the world to see the great diversity; 
thus one branch has leaves like those of a cane, and others 
like those of a mastick tree : and on a single tree there are five 
or six different kinds. Nor are these grafted, for it may be 
said that grafting is unknown, the trees being wild, and un- 
tended by these people. They do not know any religion, and 
I believe they could easily be converted to Christianity, for 
they are very intelligent. Here the fish are so unlike ours that 
it is wonderful. Some are the shape of dories, and of the 
finest colors in the world, blue, yellow, red, and other tints, 
all painted in various ways, and the colors are so bright that 
there is not a man who would not be astonished, and would not 
take great delight in seeing them. There are also whales. I 
saw no beasts on the land of any kind, except parrots and 
lizards. A boy told me that he saw a large serpent. I saw 

* Panizo, literally "panic grass." Here Columbus seems to use the word 
as descriptive of maize or Indian corn, and later the word came to have this 
meaning. On the different species of panic grass, see Candolle, Origin of 
Cultivated Plants (index under panicum). 



120 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

neither sheep, nor goats, nor any other quadruped. It is 
true I have been here a short time, since noon,^ yet I could not 
have failed to see some if there had been any. I will write 
respecting the circuit of this island after I have been round it." 

Wednesday, 17th of October 

''At noon I departed from the village off which I was 
anchored, and where I took in water, to sail round this island 
of Fernandina. The wind was S.W. and South. My wish 
was to follow the coast of this island to the S.E,, from where 
I was, the whole coast trending N.N.W. and S.S.E. ; because 
all the Indians I bring with me, and others, made signs to this 
southern quarter, as the direction of the island they call 
Samoet, where the gold is. Martin Alonso Pinzon, captain 
of the caravel Pinta, on board of which I had three of the Ind- 
ians, came to me and said that one of them had given him to 
understand very positively that the island might be sailed 
round much quicker by shaping a N.N.W. course. I saw that 
the wind would not help me to take the course I desired, and 
that it was fair for the other, so I made sail to the N.N.W. 
When I was two leagues from the cape of the island, I discov- 
ered a very wonderful harbor.^ It has one mouth, or, rather, 
it may be said to have two, for there is an islet in the middle. 
Both are very narrow, and within it is wide enough for a hun- 
dred ships, if there was depth and a clean bottom, and the en- 
trance was deep enough. It seemed desirable to explore it and 
take soundings, so I anchored outside, and went in with all 
the ship's boats, when we saw there was insufficient depth. As 
I thought, when I first saw it, that it was the mouth of some 
river, I ordered the water-casks to be brought. On shore I 
found eight or ten men, who presently came to us and showed 
us the village, whither I sent the people for water, some with 
arms, and others with the casks; and, as it was some little 
distance, I waited two hours for them. 

* Rather, "since it is noon." 

^ Port Clarence in Long Island. (Markham.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIEST VOYAGE 121 

'^During that time I walked among the trees, which was 
the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, beholding as much 
verdure as in the month of May in Andalusia. The trees are 
as unlike ours as night from day, as are the fruits, the herbs, 
the stones, and everything. It is true that some of the trees 
bore some resemblance to those in Castile, but most of them 
are very different, and some were so unlike that no one could 
compare them to anything in Castile. The people were all 
hke those already mentioned : hke them naked, and the same 
size. They give what they possess in exchange for anything 
that may be given to them. I here saw some of the sliip's 
boys bartering broken bits of glass and crockery for darts. 
The men who went for water told me that they had been in the 
houses of the natives, and that they were very plain and clean 
inside. Their beds and bags for holding things ^ were like 
nets of cotton.^ The houses are hke booths, and very high, 
with good chimneys.^ But, among many villages that I saw, 
there was none that consisted of more than from twelve to 
fifteen houses. Here they found that the married women 
wore clouts of cotton, but not the young girls, except a few 
who were over eighteen years of age. They had dogs, mas- 
tiffs, and hounds ; ^ and here they found a man who had a piece 
of gold in his nose, the size of half a castellano,^ on which they 
saw letters. I quarrelled with these people because they would 
not exchange or give what was recjuired; as I wished to see 

* Rather, "beds and hangings." The original is paramentos de cosas, 
but in the corresponding passage in his Historia, I. 310, Las Casas has ■para- 
mentos de casa, which is almost certainly the correct reading. 

^ "These are called Hamacas in Espanola." Las Casas, I. 310, where 
will be found an elaborate description of them. 

^ For ornament. Las Casas calls them caps or crowns, I. 311. 

* Rather: " mastiffs and beagles." Las Casas, I. 311, says the Admiral 
called these dogs mastiffs from the report of the sailors. " If he had seen 
them, he would not have called them so but that they resembled hounds. 
These and the small ones never bark but merely a grunt in the throat." 

^ The castellano was one-sixth of an ounce. Las Casas, I. 311, remarks: 
"They were deceived in believing the marks to be letters since those people 
are wont to work it in their fashion, since never anywhere in all the Indies 
was there found any trace of money of gold or silver or other metal." 



122 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

what and whose this money was; and they rephed that they 
were not accustomed to barter. 

''After the water was taken I returned to the ship, made 
sail, and shaped a course N.W., until I had discovered all the 
part of the coast of the island which trends east to west. 
Then all the Indians turned round and said that this island 
was smaller than Samoet, and that it would be well to return 
back so as to reach it sooner. The wind presently went down, 
and then sprang up from W.N.W., which was contrary for us 
to continue on the previous course. So I turned back, and 
navigated all that night to E.S.E., sometimes to east and to 
S.E. This course was steered to keep me clear of the land, 
for there were very heavy clouds and thick weather, which 
did not admit of my approaching the land to anchor. On 
that night it rained very heavily from midnight until nearly 
dawn, and even afterwards the clouds threatened rain. We 
found ourselves at the S.W. end of the island, where I hoped 
to anchor until it cleared up, so as to see the other island 
whither I have to go. On all these days, since I arrived in these 
Indies, it has rained more or less. Your Highnesses may be- 
heve that this land is the best and most fertile, and with a good 
cUmate, level, and as good as there is in the world." 

Thursday, 18th of October 

"After it had cleared up I went before the wind, approach- 
ing the island as near as I could, and anchored when it was no 
longer Hght enough to keep under sail. But I did not go on 
shore, and made sail at dawn. ..." 

Friday, 19th of October 

"I weighed the anchors at daylight, sending the caravel 
Pinta on an E.S.E. course, the caravel Nina S.S.E., while I 
shaped a S.E. course, giving orders that these courses were to 
be steered until noon, and that then the two caravels should 
alter course so as to join company with me. Before we had 



1492] JOUENAL OF THE FIKST VOYAGE 123 

sailed for three hours we saw an island to the east, for which 
we steered, and all three vessels arrived at the north point 
before noon. Here there is an islet, and a reef of rocks to sea- 
ward of it, besides one between the islet and the large island. 
The men of San Salvador, whom I bring with me, called it 
Saomete, and I gave it the name of Isabella/ The wind was 
north, and the said islet bore from the island of Fernandina, 
whence I had taken my departure, east and west. Afterwards 
we ran along the coast of the island, westward from the islet, 
and found its length to be 12 leagues as far as a cape, which I 
named Cabo Hermoso, at the western end. The island is 
beautiful, and the coast very deep, without sunken rocks off 
it. Outside the shore is rocky, but further in there is a sandy 
beach, and here I anchored on that Friday night until morn- 
ing. This coast and the part of the island I saw is almost / 
flat, and the island is very beautiful ; for if the other islands 
are lovely, this is more so. It has many very green trees, 
which are very large. The land is higher than in the other 
islands, and in it there are some hills, which cannot be called 
mountains; and it appears that there is much water inland. 
From this point to the N.E. the coast makes a great angle, 
and there are many thick and extensive groves. I wanted 
to go and anchor there, so as to go on shore and see so much 
beauty ; but the water was shallow, and we could only anchor 
at a distance from the land. The wind also was fair for going 
to this cape, where I am now anchored, to which I gave the 
name of Cabo Hermoso,^ because it is so. Thus it was that 
I do not anchor in that angle, but as I saw this cape so green 
and so beautiful, like all the other lands of these islands, I 
scarcely knew which to visit first; for I can never tire my 
eyes in looking at such lovely vegetation, so different from 
ours. I believe that there are many herbs and many trees 
that are worth much in Europe for dyes and for medicines; 
but I do not know them, and this causes me great sorrow. 
Arriving at this cape, I found the smell of the trees and flowers 
so delicious that it seemed the pleasantest thing in the world. 

' Crooked Island. (Markham.) ^ Cape Beautiful. 



124 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS • [1492 

To-morrow, before I leave this place, I shall go on shore to 
see what there is at this cape. There are no people, but there 
are villages in the interior, where, the Indians I bring with 
me say, there is a king who has much gold. To-morrow I 
intend to go so far inland as to find the village, and see and 
have some speech with this king, who, according to the signs 
they make, rules over all the neighboring islands, goes about 
clothed, and wears much gold on his person. I do not give 
much faith to what they say, as well because I do not under- 
stand them well as because they are so poor in gold that even 
a little that this king may have would appear much to them. 
This cape, to which I have given the name of Cabo Fermoso, 
is, I believe, on an island separated from Saometo, and there 
is another small islet between them. I did not try to examine 
them in detail, because it could not be done in 50 years. For 
my desire is to see and discover as much as I can before return- 
ing to your Higlmesses, our Lord willing, in April. It is true 
that in the event of finding places where there is gold or spices 
in quantity I should stop until I had collected as much as I 
could. I, therefore, proceed in the hope of coming across 
such places." 

Saturday, 20th of October 

'^To-day, at sunrise, I weighed the anchors from where I 
was with the ship, and anchored off the S.W. point of the 
island of Saometo, to which I gave the name of Cabo de la 
Laguna, and to the island Isabella. My intention was to 
navigate to the north-east and east from the south-east and 
south, where, I understood from the Indians I brought with 
me, was the village of the king. I found the sea so shallow 
that I could not enter nor navigate in it, and I saw that to 
follow a route by the south-east would be a great round. So 
I determined to return by the route that I had taken from the 
N.N.E. to the western part, and to sail round this island to 
[reconnoitre it]. 

''I had so httle wind that I never could sail along the coast, 



1492] JOUENAL OF THE FIEST VOYAGE 125 

except during the night. As it was dangerous to anchor off 
these islands except in the day, when one can see where to let 
go the anchor, for the bottom is all in patches, some clear and 
some rocky, I lay to all this Sunday night. The caravels 
anchored because they found themselves near the shore, and 
they thought that, owing to the signals that they were in the 
habit of making, I would come to anchor, but I did not wish 
to do so." 

Sunday, 21st of October 

''At ten o'clock I arrived here, off this islet, and anchored, 
as well as the caravels. After breakfast I went on shore, 
and found only one house, in which there was no one, and I 
supposed they had fled from fear, because all their property 
was left in the house. I would not allow anything to be 
touched, but set out with the captains and people to explore 
the island. If the others already seen are very beautiful, 
green, and fertile, this is much more so, with large trees and 
very green. Here there are large lagoons with wonderful 
vegetation on their banks. Throughout the island all is green, 
and the herbage like April in Andalusia. The songs of the 
birds were so pleasant that it seemed as if a man could never 
wish to leave the place. The flocks of parrots concealed the 
sun ; and the birds were so numerous, and of so many different 
kinds, that it was wonderful. There are trees of a thousand 
sorts, and all have their several fruits; and I feel the most 
unhappy man in the world not to Imow them, for I am well 
assured that they are all valuable. I bring home specimens of 
them, and also of the land. Thus walking along round one 
of the lakes I saw a serpent, which we killed, and I bring home 
the skin for your Highnesses. As soon as it saw us it went 
into the lagoon, and we followed, as the water was not very 
deep, until we killed it with lances. It is 7 spans long, and I 
believe that there are many hke it in these lagoons.^ Here 

' "The Indians of this island of Espauola call it iguana." Las Casas, 
I. 314. He gives a minute description of it. 



126 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

I came upon some aloes, and I have determined to take ten 
quintals on board to-morrow, for they tell me that they are 
worth a good deal. Also, while in search of good water, we 
came to a village about half a league from our anchorage. 
The people, as soon as they heard us, all fled and left their 
houses, hiding their property in the wood. I would not allow 
a thing to be touched, even the value of a pin. Presently 
some men among them came to us, and one came quite close. 
I gave him some bells and glass beads, which made him very 
content and happy. That our friendship might be further 
increased, I resolved to ask him for something; I requested 
him to get some water. After I had gone on board, the 
natives came to the beach with calabashes full of water, and 
they delighted much in giving it to us. I ordered another 
string of glass beads to be presented to them, and they said 
they would come again to-morrow. I wished to fill up all the 
ships with water at this place, and, if there should be time, I 
intended to search the island until I had had speech with the 
king, and seen whether he had the gold of which I had heard. 
I shall then shape a course for another much larger island, which 
I beheve to be Cipango, judging from the signs made by the 
Indians I bring with me. They call it Cuba, and they say 
that there are ships and many skilful sailors there. Beyond 
this island there is another called Bosio,^ which they also say 
is very large, and others we shall see as we pass, lying between. 
According as I obtain tidings of gold or spices I shall settle 
what should be done. I am still resolved to go to the main- 
land and the city of Guisay,^ and to deliver the letters of your 
Highnesses to the Gran Can, requesting a reply and returning 
with it." 

' The names in the Spanish text are Colba and Bosio, errors in transcrip- 
tion for Cuba and Bohio. Las Casas, I. 315, says in regard to the latter: 
"To call it Bohio was to misunderstand the interpreters, since throughout 
all these islands, where the language is practically the same, they call the 
huts in which they live bohio and this great island Espaiiola they called Hayti, 
and they must have said that in Hayti there were great bohios." 

^ The name is spelled Quinsay in the Latin text of Marco Polo which 
Columbus annotated. 



1492] JOURKAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 127 

Monday, 22nd of October 

"All last night and to-day I was here, waiting to see if the 
king or other person would bring gold or anything of value. 
Many of these people came, hke those of the other islands, 
equally naked, and equally painted, some white, some red, 
some black, and others in many ways. They brought darts 
and skeins of cotton to barter, which they exchanged with the 
sailors for bits of glass, broken crockery, and pieces of earthen- 
ware. Some of them had pieces of gold fastened in their 
noses, which they willingly gave for a hawk's bell and glass 
beads. But there was so httle that it counts for nothing. It is 
true that they looked upon any little thing that I gave them 
as a wonder, and they held our arrival to be a great marvel, 
believing that we came from heaven. We got water for the 
ships from a lagoon which is near the Cabo del Isleo (Cape of 
the Islet), as we named it. In the said lagoon Martin Alonso 
Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, killed another serpent 7 spans 
long, like the one we got yesterday. I made them gather here 
as much of the aloe as they could find." 

Tuesday, 2Srd of October 

''I desired to set out to-day for the island of Cuba, which 
I think must be Cipango, according to the signs these people 
make, indicative of its size and riches, and I did not delay 
any more here nor [attempt to sail] . . .^ round this island 
to the residence of this king or lord, and have speech with 
him, as I had intended. This would cause me much delay, 
and I see that there is no gold mine here. To sail round 
would need several winds, for it does not blow here as men 
may wish. It is better to go where there is great entertain- 
ment, so I say that it is not reasonable to wait, but rather to 
continue the voyage and inspect much land, until some very 
profitable country is reached, my belief being that it will be 
rich in spices. That I have no personal knowledge of these 

^ One or two words are missing in the original. 



128 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

products causes me the greatest sorrow in the world, for I see 
a thousand kinds of trees, each one with its own special fruit, 
all green now as in Spain during the months of May and June, 
as well as a thousand kinds of herbs with their flowers; yet 
I know none of them except this aloe, of which I ordered a 
quantity to be brought on board to bring to your Higlinesses. 
I have not made sail for Cuba because there is no wind, but a 
dead calm with much rain. It rained a great deal yesterday 
without causing any cold. On the contrary, the days are hot 
and the nights cool, like May in Andalusia." 

Wednesday, 24:th of October 

''At midnight I weighed the anchors and left the anchorage 
at Cabo del Isleo, in the island of Isabella.^ From the northern 
side, where I was, I intended to go to the island of Cuba, 
where I heard of the people who were very great, and had gold, 
spices, merchandise, and large ships. They showed me that 
the course thither would be W.S.W., and so I hold. For I 
beUeve that it is so, as all the Indians of these islands, as well 
as those I brought with me in the ships, told me by signs. I 
cannot understand their language, but I believe that it is of 
the island of Cipango that they recount these wonders.^ On 
the spheres I saw, and on the delineations of the map of the 
world,^ Cipango is in this region. So I shaped a course W.S.W. 
until daylight, but at dawn it fell calm and began to rain, and 
went on nearly all night. I remained thus, with little wind, 

' The translation here should be, "raised the anchors at the island of 
Isabella at Cabo del Isleo, which is on the northern side where I tarried to 
go to the island of Cuba, which I heard from this people is very great and 
has gold," etc. 

^ These two lines should read, "I believe that it is the island of Cipango 
of which marvellous things are related." 

^ The exact translation is, "On the spheres that I saw and on the paint- 
ings of world-maps it is this region." The plural number is used in both 
cases. Of the globes of this date, i.e., 1492 or earlier, that of Behaim is 
the only one that has come down to us. Of the world maps Toscanelli's, 
no longer extant, may have been one, but it is to be noted that Columbus 
uses the plural. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 129 

until the afternoon, when it began to blow fresh. I set all the 
sails in the ship, the mainsail with two bonnets, the foresail, 
spritsail, mizzen, main topsail, and the boat's sail on the poop. 
So I proceeded until nightfall, when the Cabo Verde of the 
island of Fernandina, which is at the S.W. end, bore N.W. 
distant 7 leagues. As it was now blowing hard, and I did not 
know how far it was to this island of Cuba, I resolved not to 
go in search of it during the night ; all these islands being very 
steep-to, with no bottom round them for a distance of two 
shots of a lombard. The bottom is all in patches, one bit of 
sand and another of rock, and for this reason it is not safe to 
anchor without inspection with the eye. So I determined to 
take in all the sails except the foresail, and to go on under that 
reduced canvas. Soon the wind increased, while the route 
was doubtful, and there was very thick weather, with rain. I 
ordered the foresail to be furled, and we did not make two 
leagues during that night." 

Thursday, 25th of October 

"1 steered W.S.W. from after sunset until 9 o'clock, 
making 5 leagues. Afterwards I altered course to west, and 
went 8 miles an hour until one in the afternoon ; and from that 
time until three made good 44 miles. Then land was sighted, 
consisting of 7 or 8 islands, the group running north and south, 
distant from us 5 leagues." 

Friday, 2Qth of October 

''The ship was on the south side of the islands, which were 
all low, distant 5 or 6 leagues. I anchored there. The Ind- 
ians ' on board said that thence to Cuba was a voyage in their 
canoes of a day and a half ; these being small dug-outs without 
a sail. Such are their canoes. I departed thence for Cuba, 

* Columbus's conviction that he has reached the Indies is registered by 
his use from now on of the word " Indians " for the people. 



130 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [U92 

for by the signs the Indians made of its greatness, and of its 
gold and pearls, I thought that it must be Cipango." 

Saturday, 27th of October 

''1 weighed from these islands at sunrise, and gave them the 
name of Las Islas de Arena, owing to the little depth the sea 
had for a distance of 6 leagues to the southward of them. 
We went 8 miles an hour on a S.S.W. course until one o'clock, 
having made 40 miles. Until night we had run 28 miles on 
the same course, and before dark the land was sighted. At 
night there was much rain. The vessels, on Saturday imtil 
sunset, made 17 leagues on a S.S.W. course." 

Sunday, 28th of October 

"1 went thence in search of the island of Cuba on a S.S.W, 
course, making for the nearest point of it, and entered a very 
beautiful river without danger of sunken rocks or other im- 
pediments. All the coast was clear of dangers up to the shore. 
The mouth of the river was 12 brazas across, and it is wide 
enough for a vessel to beat in.^ I anchored about a lombard- 
shot inside." The Admiral says that ''he never beheld such 
a beautiful place, with trees bordering the river, handsome, 
green, and different from ours, having fruits and flowers each 
one according to its nature. There are many birds, which sing 
very sweetly. There are a great number of palm trees of a 
different kind from those in Guinea and from ours, of a mid- 
dling height, the trunks without that covering, and the leaves 
very large, with which they thatch their houses. The country 
is very level." The Admiral jumped into his boat and went 
on shore. He came to two houses, which he believed to belong 
to fishermen who had fled from fear. In one of them he found 
a kind of dog that never barks, and in both there were nets of 

* This should be, "The mouth of the river is 12 fathoms deep and it is 
wide enough," etc. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 131 

palm-fibre and cordage, as well as horn fish-hooks, bone har- 
poons, and other apparatus ''for fishing, and several hearths. 
He beUeved that many people lived together in one house. He 
gave orders that nothing in the houses should be touched, and 
so it was done." The herbage was as thick as in Andalusia 
during April and May. He found much purslane and wild 
amaranth,^ He returned to the boat and went up the river^- 
for some distance, and he says it was great pleasure to see the 
bright verdure, and the birds, which he could not leave to go 
back. He says that this island is the most beautiful that eyes 
have seen, full of good harbors and deep rivers, and the sea 
appeared as if it never rose ; for the herbage on the beach nearly 
reached the waves, which does not happen where the sea is 
rough. (Up to that time they had not experienced a rough 
sea among all those islands.) He says that the island is full 
of very beautiful mountains, although they are not very ex- 
tensive as regards length, but high; and all the country is 
high like Sicily. It is abundantly supphed with water, as 
they gathered from the Indians they had taken with them from 
the island of Guanahani. These said by signs that there are 
ten great rivers, and that they cannot go round the island in 
twenty days. When they came near land with the ships, 
two canoes came out ; and, when they saw the sailors get into 
a boat and row about to find the depth of the river where 
they could anchor, the canoes fled. The Indians say that in 
this island there are gold mines and pearls, and the Admiral 
saw a likely place for them and mussel-shells, which are signs 
of them. He understood that large ships of the Gran Can 
came here, and that from here to the mainland was a voyage 
of ten days.^ The Admiral called this river and harbor San 
Salvador.^ 

* Bledos. The French translators give cresson sauvage, wild cress, as 
the equivalent. 

* Las Casas, I. 320, says Columbus understood "that from these to the 
mainland would be a sail of ten days by reason of the notion he had derived 
from the chart or picture which the Florentine sent him." 

^ Baracoa (Las Casas) ; Puerto Naranjo (Markham) ; Nipe (Navarrete) ; 
Nue vitas (Thacher). 



132 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

Monday, 29th of October 

The Admiral weighed anchor from this port and sailed to 
the westward, to go to the city, where, as it seemed, the Indians 
said that there was a king. They doubled a point six leagues 
to the N.W.,^ and then another point,^ then east ten leagues. 
After another league he saw a river with no very large entrance, 
to which he gave the name of Rio de la Luna.^ He went on 
until the hour of vespers. He saw another river much larger 
than the others, as the Indians told him by signs, and near he 
saw goodly villages of houses. He called the river Rio de 
Mares.'* He sent two boats on shore to a village to communi- 
cate, and one of the Indians he had brought with him, for now 
they understood a little, and show themselves content with 
Christians. All the men, women, and children fled, abandon- 
ing their houses with all they contained. The Admiral gave 
orders that nothing should be touched. The houses were 
better than those he had seen before, and he believed that the 
houses would improve as he approached the mainland. They 
were made like booths, very large, and looking like tents in a 
camp without regular streets, but one here and another there. 
Within they were clean and well swept, with the furniture well 
made. All are of palm branches beautifully constructed. 
They found many images in the shape of women, and many 
heads like masks,^ very well carved. It was not known 
whether these were used as ornaments, or to be worshipped. 
They had dogs which never bark, and wild birds tamed in their 
houses. There was a wonderful supply of nets and other 
fishing implements, but nothing was touched. He believed 
that all the people on the coast were fishermen, who took the 
fish inland, for this island is very large, and so beautiful, that 
he is never tired of praising it. He says that he found trees 

* Punta de Mulas. (Navarrete.) 

^ Punta de Cabanas. (Navarrete.) 
^ Puerto de Banes. (Navarrete.) 

* Puerto de las Nuevitas del Principe. (Navarrete.) 

^ Las Casas, I. 321, has "many heads well carved from wood." Possibly 
these were totems. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 133 

and fruits of very marvellous taste ; and adds that they must 
have cows or other cattle, for he saw skulls which were like 
those of cows/ The songs of the birds and the chirping of 
crickets throughout the night lulled everyone to rest, while 
the air was soft and healthy, and the nights neither hot nor 
cold. On the voyage through the other islands there was great 
heat, but here it is tempered like the month of May. He 
attributed the heat of the other islands to their flatness, and 
to the wind coming from the east, which is hot. The water 
of the rivers was salt at the mouth, and they did not know 
whence the natives got their drinking-water, though they have 
sweet water in their houses. Ships are able to turn in this 
river, both entering and coming out, and there are very good 
leading-marks. He says that all this sea appears to be con- 
stantly smooth, Hke the river at Seville, and the water suitable 
for the growth of pearls. He found large shells unlike those 
of Spain. Remarking on the position of the river and port, 
to which he gave the name of San Salvador,^ he describes its 
mountains as lofty and beautiful, like the Pena de las Enamo- 
radas,^ and one of them has another Httle hill on its summit, 
like a graceful mosque. The other river and port, in which he 
now was,^ has two round mountains to the S.W., and a fine 
low cape running out to the W.S.W. 

Tuesday, 30th of October 

He left the Rio de Mares and steered N.W., seeing a cape 
covered with palm trees, to which he gave the name of Cabo 
de Palmas,^ after having made good 15 leagues. The Indians 
on board the caravel Pinta said that beyond that cape there was 

' Las Casas, I. 321, comments, "These must have been skulls of the 
manati, a very large fish, like large calves, which has a skin with no scales 
like a whale and its head is like that of a cow." 

^ "I believe that this port was Baracoa, which name Diego Velasquez, 
the first of the Spaniards to settle Cuba, gave to the harbor of Asump- 
cion." Las Casas, L 322. 

^ Near Granada in Spain. 

* Nuevitas del Principe. (Navarrete.) 

* "Alto de Juan Danue." (Navarrete.) 



134 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

a river/ and that from the river to Cuba it was four days' 
journey. The captain of the Pinta reported that he under- 
stood from that, that this Cuba was a city, and that the land 
was a great continent trending far to the north. The king 
of that country, he gathered, was at war with the Gran Can, 
whom they called Cami, and his land or city Fava, with many 
other names. The Admiral resolved to proceed to that river, 
and to send a present, with the letter of the Sovereigns,^ to 
the king of that land. For this service there was a sailor who 
had been to Guinea, and some of the Indians of Guanahani 
wished to go with him, and afterwards to return to their homes. 
The Admiral calculated that he was forty-two degrees to the 
north of the equinoctial line (but the handwriting is here 
illegible).^ He says that he must attempt to reach the Gran 
Can, who he thought was here or at the city of Cathay,* which 
belongs to him, and is very grand, as he was informed before 
leaving Spain. All this land, he adds, is low and beautiful, 
and the sea deep. 

Wednesday, Slst of October 

All Tuesday night he was beating to windward, and he saw 
a river, but could not enter it because the entrance was nar- 
row. The Indians fancied that the ships could enter wherever 
their canoes could go. Navigating onwards, he came to a 
cape running out very far, and surrounded by sunken rocks,^ 

* Rio Maximo. (Navarrete.) 
' See above, p. 91. 

' Rather, "The text here is corrupt." Las Casas, L 324, gives the same 
figures and adds, "yet I think the text is erroneous." Navarrete says the 
quadrants of that period measured the altitude double and so we should 
take half of forty-two as the real altitude. If so, one wonders why there 
was no explanation to this effect in the original journal which Las Casas 
saw or why Las Casas was not familiar with this fact and did not make this 
explanation. Ruge, Columbus, pp. 144, 145, says there were no such quad- 
rants, and regards these estimates as proofs of Columbus's ignorance as a 
scientific navigator. 

* In Toscanelli's letter Cathay is a province in one place and a city in 
another. 

' Boca de Carabelas grandes. (Navarrete.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 135 

and he saw a bay where small vessels might take shelter. He 
could not proceed because the wind had come round to the 
north, and all the coast runs N.W. and S.E. Another cape 
further on ran out still more/ For these reasons, and because 
the sky showed signs of a gale, he had to return to the Rio de 
Mares. 

Thursday, November the 1st 

At sunrise the Admiral sent the boats on shore to the houses 
that were there, and they found that all the people had fled. 
After some time a man made his appearance. The Admiral 
ordered that he should be left to himself, and the sailors re- 
turned to the boats. After dinner, one of the Indians on board 
was sent on shore. He called out from a distance that there 
was nothing to fear, because the strangers were good people 
and would do no harm to anyone, nor were they people of the 
Gran Can, but they had given away their things in many islands 
where they had been. The Indian then swam on shore, and 
two of the natives took him by the arms and brought him to a 
house, where they heard what he had to say. When they 
were certain that no harm would be done to them they were 
reassured, and presently more than sixteen canoes came to 
the ships with cotton-thread and other trifles. The Admiral 
ordered that nothing should be taken from them, that they 
might understand that he sought for nothing but gold, which 
they call nucay.^ Thus they went to and fro between the ships 
and the shore all day, and they came to the Christians on shore 
with confidence. The Admiral saw no gold whatever among 
them, but he says that he saw one of them with a piece of 
worked silver fastened to his nose. They said, by signs, that 
within three days many merchants from inland would come to 
buy the things brought by the Christians, and would give 
information respecting the king of that land. So far as could 

' Punta del Maternillo. (Navarrete.) 

^ Las Casas says, I. 326, "I think the Christians did not understand, 
for the language of all these islands is the same, and in this island of Espanola 
gold is called caona." 



136 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

be understood from their signs, he resided at a distance of 
four days' journey. They had sent many messengers in all 
directions, with news of the arrival of the Admiral. "These 
people," says the Admiral, ''are of the same appearance and 
have the same customs as those of the other islands, without 
any religion so far as I know, for up to this day I have never 
seen the Indians on board say any prayer ; though they repeat 
the Salve and Ave Maria with their hands raised to heaven, 
and they make the sign of the cross. The language is also the 
same, and they are all friends; but I believe that all these 
islands are at war with the Gran Can, whom they called Cavila, 
and his province Bafan. They all go naked like the others." 
This is what the Admiral says. ''The river," he adds, "is 
very deep, and the ships can enter the mouth, going close to 
the shore. The sweet water does not come within a league 
of the mouth. It is certain," says the Admiral, "that this 
is the mainland, and that I am in front of Zayto and 
Guinsay, a hundred leagues, a little more or less, distant 
the one from the other. ^ It is very clear that no one before 
has been so far as this by sea. Yesterday, with wind from 
the N.W., I found it cold." 

Friday, 2nd of November 

The Admiral decided upon sending two Spaniards, one 
named Rodrigo de Jerez, who hved in Ayamonte, and the other 
Luis de Torres, who had served in the household of the Ade- 

* The last words should be, "distant from the one and from the other." 
Las Casas, I. 327, says : " Zayton and Quisay are certain cities or provincias 
of the mainland which were depicted on the map of Paul the physician 
as mentioned above." These Chinese cities were known from Marco Polo's 
description of them. This passage in the Journal is very perplexing if it 
assumes that Columbus was guided by the Toscanelli letter. Again a few 
days earlier Columbus was sure that Cuba was Cipango, and now he is equally 
certain that it is the mainland of Asia asserted by Toscanelli to be 26 spaces 
or 6500 Italian miles west of Lisbon, but the next day his estimate of his 
distance from Lisbon is 4568 miles. It would seem as if Columbus attached 
no importance to the estimate of distances on the Toscanelli map which was 
the only original information in it. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 137 

lantado of Murcia, and had been a Jew, knowing Hebrew, 
Chaldee, and even some Arabic. With these men he sent two 
Indians, one from among those he had brought from Guana- 
hani, and another a native of the houses by the river-side. 
He gave them strings of beads with which to buy food if they 
should be in need, and ordered them to return in six days. 
He gave them specimens of spices, to see if any were to be 
found. Their instructions were to ask for the king of that land, 
and they were told what to say on the part of the Sovereigns 
of Castile, how they had sent the Admiral with letters and a 
present, to inquire after his health and establish friendship, 
favoring him in what he might desire from them. They were 
to collect information respecting certain provinces, ports, and 
rivers of which the Admiral had notice, and to ascertain their 
distances from where he was. 

This night the Admiral took an altitude with a quadrant, 
and found that the distance from the equinoctial line was 42 
degrees.^ He says that, by his reckoning, he finds that he has 
gone over 1142 leagues from the island of Hierro.^ He still 
believes that he has reached the mainland. 

Saturday, Srd of November 

In the morning the Admiral got into the boat, and, as the 
river is like a great lake at the mouth, forming a very excellent 
port, very deep, and clear of rocks, with a good beach for 
careening ships, and plenty of fuel, he explored it until he came 
to fresh water at a distance of two leagues from the mouth. 
He ascended a small mountain to obtain a view of the sur- 
rounding country, but could see nothing, owing to the dense 
foliage of the trees, which were very fresh and odoriferous, 
so that he felt no doubt that there were aromatic herbs among 
them. He said that all he saw was so beautiful that his eyes 
could never tire of gazing upon such loveliness, nor his ears 
of hstening to the songs of birds. That day many canoes came 

> Cf. p. 134, note 3. 

^ The true distance was 1105 leagues. (Navarrete.) 



138 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

to the ships, to barter with cotton threads and with the nets 
in which they sleep, called hamacas. 

Sunday, 'ith of November 

At sunrise the Admiral again went away in the boat, and 
landed to hunt the birds he had seen the day before. After 
a time, Martin Alonso Pinzon came to him with two pieces of 
cinnamon, and said that a Portuguese, who was one of his crew, 
had seen an Indian carrying two very large bundles of it ; but 
he had not bartered for it, because of the penalty imposed 
by the Admiral on any one who bartered. He further said 
that this Indian carried some brown things like nutmegs. 
The master ^ of the Pinta said that he had found the cinnamon 
trees. The Admiral went to the place, and found that they 
were not cinnamon trees. The Admiral showed the Indians 
some specimens of cinnamon and pepper he had brought from 
Castile, and they knew it, and said, by signs, that there was 
plenty in the vicinity, pointing to the S.E. He also showed 
them gold and pearls, on which certain old men said that there 
was an infinite quantity in a place called Bohio,^ and that the 
people wore it on their necks, ears, arms, and legs, as well as 
pearls. He further understood them to say that there were 
great ships and much merchandise, all to the S.E. He also 
understood that, far away, there were men with one eye, 
and others with dogs' noses ^ who were cannibals, and that 
when they captured an enemy, they beheaded him and drank 
his blood, and cut off his private parts. 

• Contramaestre is boatswain. 

' " Bohio means in their language 'house,' and therefore it is to be sup- 
posed that they did not understand the Indians, but that it was Hayti, which 
is this island of Espanola where they made signs there was gold." Las Casas, 
I. 329. 

^ Columbus understood the natives to say these things because of his 
strong preconceptions as to what he would find in the islands off the coast 
of Asia based on his reading of the Book of Sir John Maundeville. Cf. 
ch. XVIII. of that work, e.g., "a great and fair isle called Nacumera. . . . 
And all the men and women have dogs' heads," and ch. xix., e.g., "In one 
of these isles are people of great stature, like giants, hideous to look upon ; 
and they have but one eye in the middle of the forehead." 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 139 

The Admiral then determined to return to the ship and wait 
for the return of the two men he had sent, intending to depart 
and seek for those lands, if his envoys brought some good news 
touching what he desired. The Admiral further says: "These 
people are very gentle and timid; they go naked, as I have 
said, without arms and without law. The country is very- 
fertile. The people have plenty of mames which are like carrots 
and have the flavor of chestnuts ; and they have faxones and 
beans of kinds very different from ours.^ They also have much 
cotton, which they do not sow, as it is wild m the mountains, 
and I believe they collect it throughout the year, because I 
saw pods empty, others full, and flowers all on one tree. There 
are a thousand other kinds of fruits, which it is impossible for 
me to write about, and all must be profitable." All this the 
Admiral says. 

Monday, 5th of November 

This morning the Admiral ordered the ship to be careened, 
afterwards the other vessels, but not all at the same time. 
Two were always to be at the anchorage, as a precaution; 
although he says that these people were very safe, and that 
without fear all the vessels might have been careened at the 
same time. Things being in this state, the master ^ of the 
Nina came to claim a reward from the Admiral because he 
had found mastic, but he did not bring the specimen, as 

* Las Casas, 1. 329, identifies the mames as ajes and batatas. The batatas, 
whenpe our word "potato," is the sweet potato. Mames is more commonly 
written names or ignames. This is the Guinea Negro name of the Dioscorea 
sativa, in EngHsh " Yam." Ajes is the native West Indies name. See Peschel, 
Zeitalter der Entdeckungen, p. 139, and Columbus's Journal, Dec. 13 and 
Dec. 16. Faxones are the common haricot kidney beans or string beans, 
Fhaseolus vxdgaris. This form of the name seems a confusion of the Spanish 
jdsoles and the Portuguese feijoes. That Columbus, an Italian by birth who 
had lived and married in Portugal and removed to Spain in middle life, should 
occasionally make slips in word-forms is not strange. More varieties of 
this bean are indigenous in America than were known in Europe at the time 
of the discoveries. Cf. De CandoUe, Origin of Cultivated Plants, pp. 338 ff. 

' The word is contramnestre, boatswain. 



140 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

he had dropped it. The Admiral promised him a reward, and 
sent Rodrigo Sanchez and master Diego to the trees. They 
collected some, which was kept to present to the Sovereigns, 
as well as the tree. The Admiral says that he knew it was 
mastic, though it ought to be gathered at the proper season. 
There is enough in that district for a yield of 1000 quintals 
every year. The Admiral also found here a great deal of the 
plant called aloe. He further says that the Puerto de Mares 
is the best in the world, with the finest climate and the most 
gentle people. As it has a high, rocky cape, a fortress might 
be built, so that, in the event of the place becoming rich and 
important, the merchants would be safe from any other na- 
tions. He adds: '^The Lord, in whose hands are all victories, 
will ordain all things for his service. An Indian said by signs 
that the mastic was good for pains in the stomach." 

Tuesday, 6th of November 

Yesterday, at night, says the Admiral, the two men came 
back who had been sent to explore the interior. They said 
that after walking 12 leagues they came to a village of 50 
houses, where there were a thousand inhabitants, for many live 
in one house. These houses are like very large booths. They 
said that they were received with great solemnity, according 
to custom, and all, both men and women, came out to see them. 
They were lodged in the best houses, and the people touched 
them, kissing their hands and feet, marvelling and believing 
that they came from heaven, and so they gave them to under- 
stand. They gave them to eat of what they had. When they 
arrived, the chief people conducted them by the arms to the 
principal house, gave them two chairs on which to sit, and 
all the natives sat round them on the ground. The Indian 
who came with them described the manner of living of the 
Christians, and said that they were good people. Presently 
the men went out, and the women came sitting round them 
in the same way, kissing their hands and feet, and looking 
to see if they were of flesh and bones like themselves. They 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 141 

begged the Spaniards to remain with them at least five days. 
The Spaniards showed the natives specimens of cinnamon, 
pepper, and other spices which the Admiral had given them, 
and the}^ said, by signs, that there was plenty at a short dis- 
tance from thence to S.E., but that there they did not know 
whether there was any/ Finding that they had no informa- 
tion respecting cities, the Spaniards returned; and if they 
had desired to take those who wished to accompany them, 
more than 500 men and women would have come, because they 
thought the Spaniards were returning to heaven. There came, 
however, a principal man of the village and his son, with a 
servant. The Admiral conversed with them, and showed 
them much honor. They made signs respecting many lands 
and islands in those parts. The Admiral thought of bringing 
them to the Sovereigns. He says that he knew not what 
fancy took them ; either from fear, or owing to the dark night, 
they wanted to land. The ship was at the time high and dry, 
but, not wishing to make them angry, he let them go on their 
saying that they would return at dawn, but they never came 
back. The two Christians met with many people on the road 
going home, men and women with a half-burnt weed in their 
hands, being the herbs they are accustomed to smoke. ^ They 

' The last line should read, " but that they did not know whether there 
was any in the place where they were." 

* The last line should read, "with a brand in their hand, [and] herbs to 
smoke as they are accustomed to do." This is the earliest reference to smok- 
ing tobacco. Las Casas, I. 332, describes the process as the natives practised 
it : "These two Christians found on their way many people, men and women, 
going to and from their villages and always the men with a brand in their 
hands and certain herbs to take their smoke, which are dry herbs placed in a 
certain leaf, also dry like the paper muskets which boys make at Easter 
time. Having lighted one end of it, they suck at the other end or draw in with 
the breath that smoke with which they make themselves drowsy and as if 
drunk, and in that way, they say, cease to feel fatigue. These muskets, or 
whatever we call them, they call tabacos. I knew Spaniards in this island 
of Espafiola who were accustomed to take them, who, when they were re- 
buked for it as a vice, replied they could not give it up. I do not know 
what pleasant taste or profit they found in them." Las Casas' last remarks 
show that smoking was not yet common in his later life in Spain. The 
paper muskets of Las Casas are blow-pipes. Oviedo, lib. v., cap. ii., gives 
a detailed description of the use of tobacco. He says that the Indians 



142 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

did not find villages on the road of more than five houses, 
all receiving them with the same reverence. They saw many- 
kinds of trees, herbs, and sweet-smelling flowers; and birds 
of many different kinds, unlike those of Spain, except the par- 
tridges, geese, of which there are many, and singing nightin- 
gales. They saw no quadrupeds except the dogs that do not 
bark.^ The land is very fertile, and is cultivated with yams 
and several kinds of beans different from ours, as well as com.^ 
There were great quantities of cotton gathered, spun, and 
worked up. In a single house they saw more than 500 arrobas,^ 
and as much as 4000 quintals could be yielded every year. 
The Admiral said that ''it did not appear to be cultivated, 
and that it bore all the year round. It is very fine, and has 
a large boll. All that was possessed by these people they gave 
at a very low price, and a great bundle of cotton was exchanged 
for the point of a needle or other trifle. They are a people," 
says the Admiral, ''guileless and unwarhke. Men and women 
go as naked as when their mothers bore them. It is true that 
the women wear a very small piece of cotton-cloth wliich covers 
their private parts and no more, and they are of very good 
appearance, not very dark, less so than the Canarians. I hold, 
most serene Princes, that if devout rehgious persons were here, 
knowing the language, they would all turn Christians. I 
trust in our Lord that your Highnesses will resolve upon this 
with much diligence, to bring so many great nations within 
the Church, and to convert them ; as you have destroyed those 
who would not confess the Father, the Son, and the Holy 

smoked by inserting these tubes in the nostrils and that after two or three 
inhalations they lost consciousness. He knew some Christians who used it 
as an anesthetic when in great pain. 

^ On this indigenous species of dumb dogs, cf. Oviedo, lib. xii. cap. 
V. They have long been extinct in the Antilles. Oviedo says there were 
none in Espailola when he wrote. He left the island in 1546. 

^ This last part of this sentence should read, "and is cultivated with 
mames, kidney beans, other beans, this same panic [i.e., Indian corn], etc." 
The corresponding passage in the Historic of Ferdinand Columbus reads, 
"and another grain like panic called by them mahiz of very excellent flavor 
cooked or roasted or pounded in porridge (polenta)," p. 87. 

' The arroba was 25 pounds and the quintal one hundred weight. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 143 

Ghost. And after your days, all of us being mortal, may your 
kingdoms remain in peace, and free from heresy and evil, 
and may you be well received before the eternal Creator, to 
whom I pray that you may have long life and great increase 
of kingdoms and lordships, with the will and disposition to 
increase the holy Christian rehgion as you have done hitherto. 
Amen !" 

"To-day I got the ship afloat, and prepared to depart on 
Thursday, in the name of God, and to steer S.E. in search 
of gold and spices, and to discover land." 

These are the words of the Admiral, who intended to depart 
on Thursday, but, the wind being contrary, he could not go 
until the 12th of November. 

Monday, 12th of November 

The Admiral left the port and river of Mares before dawn 
to visit the island called Babeque, so much talked of by the 
Indians on board, where, according to their signs, the people 
gather the gold on the beach at night with candles, and after- 
wards beat it into bars with hammers.^ To go thither it was 
necessary to shape a course E. b. S. After having made 8 
leagues along the coast, a river was sighted, and another 4 
leagues brought them to another river, wliich appeared to be 
of great volume, and larger than any they had yet seen. The 
Admiral did not wish to stop nor to enter any of these rivers, 
for two reasons: the first and principal one being that wind 
and weather were favorable for going in search of the said 
island of Babeque; the other, that, if there was a populous 
and famous city near the sea, it would be visible, while, to go 
up the rivers, small vessels are necessary, which those of the 
expedition were not. Much time would thus be lost; more- 
over, the exploration of such rivers is a separate enterprise. 
All that coast was peopled near the river, to which the name of 
Rio del Sol was given. 

* In Las Casas, I. 339, Bohio is mentioned with Babeque, and it is in 
Bohio that the people were reported to gather gold on the beach. 



144 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 \ 

The Admiral says that, on the previous Sunday, the 11th of 
November, it seemed good to take some persons from amongst 
those at Rio de Mares, to bring to the Sovereigns, that they 
might learn our language, so as to be able to tell us what there 
is in their lands. Returning, they would be the mouthpieces 
of the Christians, and would adopt our customs and the things 
of the faith. ''I saw and Imew" (says the Admiral) ''that 
these people are without any religion, not idolaters, but very 
gentle, not knowing what is evil, nor the sins of murder 
and theft, being without arms, and so timid that a hundred 
would fly before one Spaniard, although they joke with them.^ 
They, however, believe and know that there is a God in heaven, 
and say that we have come from Heaven. At any prayer that 
we say, they repeat, and make the sign of the cross. Thus 
your Highnesses should resolve to make them Christians, for 
I believe that, if the work was begun, in a little time a multi- 
tude of nations would be converted to our faith, with the ac- 
quisition of great lordships, peoples, and riches for Spain. 
Without doubt, there is in these lands a vast quantity of gold, 
and the Indians I have on board do not speak without reason 
when they say that in these islands there are places where they 
dig out gold, and wear it on their necks, ears, arms, and legs, 
the rings being very large. There are also precious stones, 
pearls, and an infinity of spices. In this river of Mares, whence 
we departed to-night, there is undoubtedly a great quantity 
of mastic, and much more could be raised, because the trees 
may be planted, and will yield abundantly. The leaf and fruit 
are like the mastic, but the tree and leaf are larger. As 
Pliny describes it, I have seen it on the island of Chios in the 
Archipelago. I ordered many of these trees to be tapped, 
to see if any of them would yield resin; but, as it rained all 
the time I was in that river, I could not get any, except a very 
little, which I am bringing to your Higlinesses. It may not be 
the right season for tapping, which is, I believe, when the trees 
come forth after winter and begin to flower. But when I was 
there the fruit was nearly ripe. Here also there is a great 

* I.e., although the Spaniards may be only fooling with them. 



1492] JOUKNAL OF THE FIKST VOYAGE 145 

quantity of cotton, and I believe it would have a good sale 
here without sending it to Spain, but to the great cities of the 
Gran Can,^ wliich will be discovered without doubt, and many 
others ruled over by other lords, who will be pleased to serve 
your Highnesses, and whither will be brought other commodi- 
ties of Spain and of the Eastern lands; but these are to the 
west as regards us. There is also here a great yield of aloes,^ 
though this is not a commodity that will yield great profit. 
The mastic, however, is important, for it is only obtained 
from the said island of Chios, and I believe the harvest is worth 
50,000 ducats, if I remember right.^ There is here, in the 
mouth of the river, the best port I have seen up to this time, 
wide, deep, and clear of rocks. It is an excellent site for a 
town and fort, for any ship could come close up to the walls ; 
the land is high, with a temperate climate, and very good 
water. 

"Yesterday a canoe came alongside the ship, with six 
youths in it. Five came on board, and I ordered them to 
be detained. They are now here. I afterwards sent to a 
house on the western side of the river, and seized seven women, 
old and young, and three children. I did this because the men 
would behave better in Spain if they had women of their own 
land, than without them. For on many occasions the men of 
Guinea have been brought to learn the language in Portugal, 
and afterwards, when they returned, and it was expected that 

^ An interesting forecast of the future which may be compared with 
John Cabot's; see one of the last pages of this volume. 

^ Linaloe. Lignaloes or agallochum, to be distinguished from the medic- 
inal aloes. Both were highly prized articles of mediaeval Oriental trade. 
Lignaloes is mentioned by Marco Polo as one of the principal commodities 
exchanged in the market of Zaitun. It is also frequently mentioned in the 
Bible. Cf. Numbers xxiv. 6, or Psalm xlv. 8. The aloes of Columbus were 
probably the Barbadoes aloes of commerce, and the mastic the produce 
of the Bursera gu^nmifera. The last did not prove to be a commercial resin 
like the mastic of Scio. See Encydopoedia Britannica under Aloes and Mastic, 
and Heyd, Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen Age, II. 581, 633. 

^ The ducat being 9s. 2d. In the seventeenth century the value of 
the mastic exported from Chios (Scio) was 30,000 ducats. Chios be- 
longed to Genoa from 1346 to 1566. (Markham.) 



146 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

they would be useful in their land, owing to the good company 
they had enjoyed and the gifts they had received, they never 
appeared after arriving. Others may not act thus. But, 
having women, they have the wish to perform what they are 
required to do; besides, the women would teach our people 
their language, which is the same in all these islands, so that 
those who make voyages in their canoes are understood every- 
where. On the other hand, there are a thousand different lan- 
guages in Guinea, and one native does not understand another. 
"The same night the husband of one of the women came 
alongside in a canoe, who was father of the three children — 
one boy and two girls. He asked me to let him come with 
them, and besought me much. They are now all consoled at 
being with one who is a relation of them all. He is a man of 
about 45 years of age." All these are the words of the Admiral. 
He also says that he had felt some cold, and that it would not 
be wise to continue discoveries in a northerly direction in the 
winter. On this Monday, until sunset, he steered a course 
E. b. S., making 18 leagues, and reaching a cape, to which he 
gave the name of Cabo de Cuba. 

Tuesday, ISth of November 

This night the ships were on a bowhne, as the sailors say, 
beating to windward without making any progress. At sun- 
set they began to see an opening in the mountains, where two 
very high peaks ^ were visible. It appeared that here was the 
division between the land of Cuba and that of Bohio, and this 
was affirmed by signs, by the Indians who were on board. 
As soon as the day had dawned, the Admiral made sail toward 
the land, passing a point which appeared at night to be distant 
two leagues. He then entered a large gulf, 5 leagues to the 
S.S.E., and there remained 5 more, to arrive at the point where, 
between two great mountains, there appeared to be an open- 
ing ; but it could not be made out whether it was an inlet of 
the sea. As he desired to go to the island called Babeque, 

* Las Sierras del Cristal and Las Sierras de Moa. (Navarrete.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 147 

where, according to the information he had received, there was 
much gold; and as it bore east, and as no large town was in 
sight, the wind freshening more than ever, he resolved to put 
out to sea, and work to the east with a northerly wind. The 
ship made 8 miles an hour, and from ten in the forenoon, when 
that course was taken, until sunset, 56 miles, which is 14 
leagues to the eastward from the Cabo de Cuba. The other 
land of Bohio was left to leeward. Commencing from the cape 
of the said gulf, he discovered, according to his reckoning, 80 
miles, equal to 20 leagues, all that coast running E.S.E. and 
W.N.W. 

Wednesday, 14:th of November 

All last night the Admiral was beating to windward (he 
said that it would be unreasonable to navigate among those 
islands during the night, until they had been explored), for 
the Indians said yesterday that it would take three days to 
go from Rio de Mares to the island of Babeque, by which 
should be understood days' journeys in their canoes equal to 
about 7 leagues. The wind fell, and, the course being east, 
she could not lay her course nearer than S.E., and, owing to 
other mischances, he was detained until the morning. At 
sunrise he determined to go in search of a port, because the 
wind had shifted from north to N.E., and, if a port could not 
be found, it would be necessary to go back to the ports in the 
island of Cuba, whence they came. The Admiral approached 
the shore, having gone over 28 miles E.S.E. that night. He 
steered south . . . miles to the land, where he saw many 
islets and openings. As the wind was high and the sea rough, 
he did not dare to risk an attempt to enter, but ran along the 
coast W.N.W. , looking out for a port, and saw many, but none 
very clear of rocks. After having proceeded for 64 miles, 
he found a very deep opening, a quarter of a mile wide, with 
a good port and river. He ran in with her head S.S.W., 
afterwards south to S.E. The port ^ was spacious and very 
deep, and he saw so many islands that he could not count them 

* Puerto de Taxamo, in Cuba. (Navarrete.) 



148 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

all, with very high land covered with trees of many kinds, and 
an infinite number of palms. He was much astonished to see 
so many lofty islands; and assured the Sovereigns that the 
mountains and isles he had seen since yesterday seemed to him 
to be second to none in the world ; so high and clear of clouds 
and snow, with the sea at their bases so deep. He believes 
that these islands are those innumerable ones that are depicted 
on the maps of the world in the Far East.^ He believed that 
they yielded very great riches in precious stones and spices, 
and that they extend much further to the south, widening out 
in all directions. He gave the name of La Mar de Nuestra 
Senora, and to the haven, which is near the mouth of the en- 
trance to these islands, Puerto del Principe. He did not enter 
it, but examined it from outside, until another time, on Satur- 
day of the next week, as will there appear. He speaks highly 
of the fertility, beauty, and height of the islands which he found 
in this gulf, and he tells the Sovereigns not to wonder at his 
praise of them, for that he has not told them the hundredth 
part. Some of them seemed to reach to heaven, running 
up into peaks like diamonds. Others rising to a great height 
have a flat top like a table. At their bases the sea is of a 
great depth, with enough water for a very large carrack. All 
are covered with fohage and without rocks. 

Thursday, 15th of November 

The Admiral went to examine these islands in the ships' 
boats, and speaks marvels of them, how he found mastic, 
and aloes without end. Some of them were cultivated with the 
roots of which the Indians make bread; and he found that 
fires had been lighted in several places. He saw no fresh water. 
There were some natives, but they fled. In all parts of the sea 
where the vessels were navigated he found a depth of 15 or 
16 fathoms, and all basa, by which he means that the ground 

* Cf. Fra Mauro's Map (1457-1459), Bourne, Spain in America, 14, and 
Behaim's Globe, Winsor's Columbus, p. 186, or Fiske's Discovery of Amer- 
ica, I. 422. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 149 

is sand, and not rocks ; a thing much desired by sailors, for 
the rocks cut tlieir anchor cables. 

Friday, IQth of November 

As in all parts, whether islands or mainlands, that he visited, 
the Admiral always left a cross ; so, on this occasion, he went 
in a boat to the entrance of these havens, and found two very 
large trees on a point of land, one longer than the other. One 
being placed over the other, made a cross, and he said that a 
carpenter could not have made it better. He ordered a veiy 
large and high cross to be made out of these timbers. He found 
canes on the beach, and did not know where they had grown, 
but thought they must have been brought down by some river, 
and washed up on the beach (in which opinion he had reason). 
He went to a creek on the south-east side of the entrance to 
the port. Here, under a height of rock and stone like a cape, 
there was depth enough for the largest carrack in the world 
close in shore, and there was a corner where six ships might 
he without anchors as in a room. It seemed to the Admiral 
that a fortress might be built here at small cost, if at any time 
any famous trade should arise in that sea of islands. 

Returning to the ship, he found that the Indians who were 
on board had fished up very large shells found in those seas. 
He made the people examine them, to see if there was mother- 
'-pearl, which is in the shells where pearls grow. They found 
a great deal, but no pearls, and their absence was attributed 
to its not being the season, which is May and June. The sailors 
found an animal which seemed to be a taso, or taxo} They 
also fished with nets, and, among many others, caught a fish 
wliich was exactly like a pig, not like a tunny, but all covered 
with a very hard shell, without a soft place except the tail 
and the eyes, and a hole underneath to discharge its superflu- 
ities. It was ordered to be salted, to bring home for the Sov- 
ereigns to see.^ 

' Las Casas did not know the meaning of this word. In all probability 
it is the Italian tasso, badger. C/. p. 139, notel. The animal, Cuvier sug- 
gested, was probably the coati. 

^ Cuvier conjectured this to be the trunk fish. 



150 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

Saturday, 17th of November 

The Admiral got into the boat, and went to visit the islands 
he had not yet seen to the S.W. He saw many more very 
fertile and pleasant islands, with a great depth between them. 
Some of them had springs of fresh water, and he beheved that 
the water of those streams came from some sources at the sum- 
mits of the mountains. He went on, and found a beach bor- 
dering on very sweet water, which was very cold. There was 
a beautiful meadow, and many very tall palms. They found 
a large nut of the kind belonging to India, great rats,^ and 
enormous crabs. He saw many birds, and there was a 
strong smell of musk, which made him think it must be there. 
This day the two eldest of the six youths brought from the 
Rio de Mares, who were on board the caravel Nina, made their 
escape. 

Sunday, 18th of November 

The Admiral again went away with the boats, accompanied 
by many of the sailors, to set up the cross which he had or- 
dered to be made out of the two large trees at the entrance to 
the Puerto del Principe, on a fair site cleared of trees, whence 
there was an extensive and very beautiful view. He says that 
there is a greater rise and fall of the sea there than in any 
other port he has seen, and that this is no marvel, considering 
the numerous islands. The tide is the reverse of ours, be- 
cause here, when the moon is S.S.W., it is low water in the 
port. He did not get under way, because it was Sunday. 

Monday, 19th of November 

The Admiral got under way before sunrise, in a calm. 
In the afternoon there was some wind from the east, and he 
shaped a N.N.E. course. At sunset the Puerto del Principe 
bore S.S.W. 7 leagues. He saw the island of Babeque bear- 
ing due east about 60 miles. He steered N.E. all that night, 

* The agouti. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 151 

making 60 miles, and up to ten o'clock of Tuesday another 
dozen; altogether 18 leagues N.E. b. W. 

Tuesday, 20th of November 

They left Babeque, or the islands of Babeque, to the 
E.S.E., the wind being contrary ; and, seeing that no progress 
was being made, and the sea was getting rough, the Admiral 
determined to return to the Puerto del Principe, whence he had 
started, which was 25 leagues distant. He did not wish 
to go to the island he had called Isabella, which was twelve 
leagues off, and where he might have anchored that night, for 
two reasons : one was that he had seen two islands to the south 
which he wished to explore ; the other, because the Indians he 
brought with him, whom he had taken at the island of Guana- 
hani, which he named San Salvador, eight leagues from 
Isabella, might get away, and he said that he wanted them to 
take to Spain. They thought that, when the Admiral had 
found gold, he would let them return to their homes. He came 
near the Puerto del Principe, but could not reach it, be- 
cause it was night, and because the current drifted them to the 
N.W. He turned her head to N.E. with a hght wind. At 
three o'clock in the morning the wind changed, and a course, 
was shaped E.N.E., the wind being S.S.W., and changing 
at dawn to south and S.E. At sunset Puerto del Principe 
bore nearly S.W. by W. 48 miles, which are 12 leagues. 

Wednesday, 21st of November 

At sunrise the Admiral steered east, with a southerly wind, 
but made Uttle progress, owing to a contrary sea. At vespers 
he had gone 24 miles. Afterwards the wind changed to east, 
and he steered S. b. E., at sunset having gone 12 miles. Here 
he found himself forty-two degrees north of the equinoctial 
line, as in the port of Mares, but he says that he kept the 
result from the quadrant in suspense until he reached the shore, 
that it might be adjusted (as it would seem that he thought 
this distance was too great, and he had reason, it not being 



152 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

possible, as these islands are only in . . . degrees)/ To 
believe the quadrant was right he was led by seeing the north 
star as high as in Castile. . . . Reinforcing this was the great 
heat which he says he found there. . . . From this heat 
which the Admiral says he endured there he argued that in 
these Indies and where he was going there must be much 
gold.^^ 

This day Martin Alonso Pinzon parted company with the 
caravel Pinta, in disobedience to and against the wish of the 
Admiral, and out of avarice, thinking that an Indian who had 
been put on board his caravel could show him where there was 
much gold. So he parted company, not owing to bad weather, 
but because he chose. Here the Admiral says: "He had done 
and said many other things to me." 



Thursday J 22nd of November 

On Wednesday night the Admiral steered S.S.E., with the 
wind east, but it was nearly calm. At 3 it began to blow 
from N.N.E. ; and he continued to steer south to see the land 
he had seen in that quarter. When the sun rose he was as far 
off as the day before, owing to adverse currents, the land being 
40 miles off. This night Martin Alonso shaped a course to the 
east, to go to the island of Babeque, where the Indians say 
there is much gold. He did this in sight of the Admiral, from 
whom he was distant 16 miles. The Admiral stood towards 
the land all night. He shortened sail, and showed a lantern, 
because Pinzon would thus have an opportunity of joining him, 
the night being very clear, and the wind fair to come, if he had 
wished to do so. 



^ See p. 134, note 3. The words following " Port of Mares " should be 
translated " but here he says that he has the quadrant hung up (or not in use) 
until he reaches land to repair it. Since it seemed to him that this distance," 
etc. Las Casas omitted to insert the number of degrees in his comment. 

^ The sentences omitted are comments of Las Casas on these reflections 
of Columbus. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 153 

Friday, 23rd of November 

The Admiral stood towards the land all day, always steering 
south with little wind, but the current would never let them 
reach it, being as far off at sunset as in the morning. The wind 
was E.N.E., and they could shape a southerly course, but 
there was little of it. Beyond this cape there stretched out 
another land or cape, also trending east, which the Indians 
on board called Bohio. They said that it was very large, and 
that there were people in it who had one eye in their fore- 
heads, and others who were cannibals, and of whom they were 
much afraid.^ When they saw that this course was taken, 
they said that they could not talk to these people because they 
would be eaten, and that they were very well armed. The 
Admiral says that he well believes that there were such people, 
and that if they are armed they must have some ability. He 
thought that they may have captured some of the Indians, 
and because they did not return to their homes, the others be- 
lieved that they had been eaten. They thought the same of 
the Christians and of the Admiral when some of them first 
saw the strangers. 

Saturday, ^Uh of November 

They navigated all night, and at 3 ^ they reached the level 
island^ at the very same point they had come to the week 
before, when they started for the island of Babeque. At first 
the Admiral did not dare to approach the shore, because it seemed 
that there would be a great surf in that mountain-girded bay. 
Finally he reached the sea of Nuestra Senora, where there are 
many islands, and entered a port near the mouth of the open- 
ing to the islands. He says that if he had known of this port 
before, he need not have occupied himself in exploring the 
islands, and it would not have been necessary to go back. He, 
however, considered that the time was well spent in examin- 

^ See p. 138, note 3. 

^ A la hora de tercia, about 9 a.m. See p. 118, note 1. 

' Cayo de Moa. (Navarrete.) 



154 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

ing the islands. On nearing the land he sent in the boat to 
sound, finding a good sandy bottom in 6 to 20 fathoms. He 
entered the haven, pointing the ship's head S.W. and then 
west, the flat island bearing north. This, with another island 
near it, forms a harbor which would hold all the ships of Spain 
safe from all winds. This entrance on the S.W. side is passed 
by steering S.S.W., the outlet being to the west very deep 
and wide. Thus a vessel can pass amidst these islands, and he 
who approaches from the north, with a knowledge of them, 
can pass along the coast. These islands are at the foot of a 
great mountain-chain running east and west, which is longer 
and higher than any others on this coast, where there are many. 
A reef of rocks outside runs parallel with the said mountains, 
like a bench, extending to the entrance. On the side of the 
flat island, and also to the S.E., there is another small reef, 
but between them there is great width and depth. Within 
the port, near the S.E. side of the entrance, they saw a large 
and very fine river, ^ with more volume than any they had 
yet met with, and fresh water could be taken from it as far as 
the sea. At the entrance there is a bar, but within it is very 
deep, 19 fathoms. The banks are lined with palms and many 
other trees. 

Sunday, 25th of November 

Before sunrise the Admiral got into the boat, and went to see 
a cape or point of land ^ to the S.E. of the flat island, about a 
league and a half distant, because there appeared to be a good 
river there. Presently, near to the S.E. side of the cape, at a dis- 
tance of two cross-bow shots, he saw a large stream of beautiful 
water falling from the mountains ^ above, with a loud noise. 
He went to it, and saw some stones shining in its bed hke gold.* 

^ Rio de Moa. (Navarrete.) 

^ Punta del Mangle or del Guarico. (Navarrete.) 

^ Sierras de Moa. (Navarrete.) 

* " These must have been margaseta stones which look like gold in streams 
and of which there is an abundance in the rivers of these islands." Las 
Casas, I. 346. 



1492] JOUENAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 155 

He remembered that in the river Tagus, near its junction with 
the sea, there was gold ; so it seemed to him that this should 
contain gold, and he ordered some of these stones to be col- 
lected, to be brought to the Sovereigns. Just then the sailor 
boys called out that they had found large pines. The Admiral 
looked up the hill, and saw that they were so wonderfully large 
that he could not exaggerate their height and straightness, 
hke stout yet fine spindles. He perceived that here there was 
material for great store of planks and masts for the largest 
ships in Spain. He saw oaks and arbutus trees, ^ with a good 
river, and the means of making water-power.^ The climate 
was temperate, owing to the height of the mountains. On the 
beach he saw many other stones of the color of iron, and others 
that some said were hke silver ore, all brought down by the 
river. Here he obtained a new mast and yard for the mizzen 
of the caravel Nina. He came to the mouth of the river, and 
entered a creek which was deep and wide, at the foot of that 
S.E. part of the cape, which would accommodate a hundred 
ships without any anchor or hawsers. Eyes never beheld a 
better harbor. The mountains are very high, whence descend 
many Hmpid streams, and all the hills are covered with pines, 
and an infinity of diverse and beautiful trees. Two or three 
other rivers were not visited. 

The Admiral described all this, in much detail, to the Sov- 
ereigns, and declared that he had derived unspeakable joy 
and pleasure at seeing it, more especially the pines, because they 
enable as many ships as is desired to be built here, bringing 
out the rigging, but finding here abundant supphes of wood 
and provisions. He affirms that he has not enumerated a 
hundredth part of what there is here, and that it pleased our 
Lord always to show him one thing better than another, as 
well on the ground and among the trees, herbs, fruits, and 
flowers, as in the people, and always something different in 
each place. It had been the same as regards the havens and 

^ Madronos. Arbutus unedo or the Strawberry tree. The California 
Madrona is the Arbutus Menziesii. 
^ Rather, "for making sawmills." 



156 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

the waters. Finally, he says that if it caused him who saw 
it so much wonder, how much more will it affect those who hear 
about it ; yet no one can believe until he sees it. 

Monday, 2&h of November 

At sunrise the Admiral weighed the anchors in the haven 
of Santa Catalina, where he was behind the flat island, and 
steered along the coast in the direction of Cabo del Pico, which 
was S.E. He reached the cape late, because the wind failed, 
and then saw another cape, S.E. b. E. 60 miles, which, when 
20 miles off, was named Cabo de Campana, but it could not be 
reached that day. They made good 32 miles during the day, 
which is 8 leagues. During this time the Admiral noted nine 
remarkable ports,^ which all the sailors thought wonderfully 
good, and five large rivers ; for they sailed close along the land, 
so as to see everything. All along the coast there are very 
high and beautiful mountains, not arid or rocky, but all acces- 
sible, and very lovely. The valleys, like the mountains, were 
full of tall and fine trees, so that it was a glory to look upon 
them, and there seemed to be many pines. Also, beyond the 
said Cabo de Pico to the S.E. there are two islets, each about 
two leagues round, and inside them three excellent havens 
and two large rivers. Along the whole coast no inhabited 
places were visible from the sea. There may have been some, 
and there were indications of them, for, when the men landed, 
they found signs of people and numerous remains of fires. The 
Admiral conjectured that the land he saw to-day S.E. of the 
Cabo de Campana was the island called by the Indians Bohio : ^ 
it looked as if this cape was separated from the mainland. 
The Admiral says that all the people he has hitherto met with 
have very great fear of those of Caniba or Canima. They affirm 
that they live in the island of Bohio, which must be very large, 
according to all accounts. The Admiral understood that those 
of Caniba come to take people from their homes, they being 

* Among these were the Bay of Yamanique, and the ports of Jaragua, 
Taco, Cayaganueque, Nava, and Maravi. (Navarrete.) 
^ See p. 126, note 1. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 157 

very cowardly, and without knowledge of arms. For this 
cause it appears that these Indians do not settle on the sea- 
coast, owing to being near the land of Caniba. When the na- 
tives who were on board saw a course shaped for that land, 
they feared to speak, thinking they were going to be eaten; 
nor could they rid themselves of their fear. They declared that 
the Caiiibas ^ had only one eye and dogs' faces. The Admiral 
thought they lied, and was inclined to believe that it was peo- 
ple from the dominions of the Gran Can who took them into 
captivity. 

Tuesday, 27th of November 

Yesterday, at sunset, they arrived near a cape named 
Campana by the Admiral; and, as the sky was clear and 
the wind light, he did not wish to run in close to the land and 
anchor, although he had five or six singularly good havens 
under his lee. The Admiral was attracted on the one hand 
by the longing and delight he felt to gaze upon the beauty and 
freshness of those lands, and on the other by a desire to com- 
plete the work he had undertaken. For these reasons he re- 
mained close hauled, and stood off and on during the night. 
But, as the currents had set him more than 5 or 6 leagues to 
the S.E, beyond where he had been at nightfall, passing the 
land of Campana, he came in sight of a great opening beyond 
that cape, which seemed to divide one land from another, 
leaving an island between them. He decided to go back, 
with the wind S.E., steering to the point where the opening 
had appeared, where he found that it was only a large 
bay ; ^ and at the end of it, on the S.E. side, there was a point 
of land on which was a high and square-cut hill,^ which had 
looked like an island. A breeze sprang up from the north, 
and the Admiral continued on a S.E. course, to explore the 
coast and discover all that was there. Presently he saw, at the 

' The original of the words Cannibal and Carib and Caribbean. Cf. also 
p. 138, note 3. 

^ The port of Baracoa. (Navarrete.) 
' Monte del Yunque. (Navarrete.) 



158 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

foot of the Cabo de Campana, a wonderfully good port/ and 
a large river, and, a quarter of a league on, another river, and 
a third, and a fourth to a seventh at similar distances, from the 
furthest one to Cabo de Campana being 20 miles S.E. Most 
of these rivers have wide and deep mouths, with excellent 
havens for large ships, without sandbanks or sunken rocks. 
Proceeding onwards from the last of these rivers, on a S.E. 
course, they came to the largest inhabited place they had yet 
seen, and a vast concourse of people came down to the beach 
with loud shouts, all naked, with their darts in their hands. 
The Admiral desired to have speech with them, so he furled 
sails and anchored. The boats of the ship and the caravel 
were sent on shore, with orders to do no harm whatever to the 
Indians, but to give them presents. The Indians made as if 
they would resist the landing, but, seeing that the boats of the 
Spaniards continued to advance without fear, they retired 
from the beach. Thinking that they would not be terrified 
if only two or three landed, three Christians were put on shore, 
who told them not to be afraid, in their own language, for they 
had been able to learn a httle from the natives who were on 
board. But all ran away, neither great nor small remaining. 
The Christians went to the houses, which were of straw, and 
built hke the others they had seen, but found no one in any of 
them. They returned to the ships, and made sail at noon in 
the direction of a fine cape ^ to the eastward, about 8 leagues 
distant. Having gone about half a league, the Admiral saw, 
on the south side of the same bay, a very remarkable harbor,^ 
and to the S.E. some wonderfully beautiful country like a 
valley among the mountains, whence much smoke arose, in- 
dicating a large population, with signs of much cultivation. 
So he resolved to stop at this port, and see if he could have 
any speech or intercourse with the inhabitants. It was so 
that, if the Admiral had praised the other havens, he must 
praise this still more for its lands, climate, and people. He 

* Port of Maravi. (Navarrete.) 
^ Punta de Maici. (Id.) 

* Puerto de Baracoa. (Id.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 159 

tells marvels of the beauty of the country and of the trees, 
there being palms and pine trees ; and also of the great valley 
which is not flat, but diversified by hill and dale, the most lovely 
scene in the world. Many streams flow from it, which fall 
from the mountains. 

As soon as the ship was at anchor the Admiral jumped 
into the boat, to get soundings in the port, which is the shape 
of a hammer. When he was facing the entrance he found the 
mouth of a river on the south side of sufficient width for a galley 
to enter it, but so concealed that it is not visible until close to. 
Entering it for the length of the boat, there was a depth of 
from 5 to 8 fathoms. In passing up it the freshness and beauty 
of the trees, the clearness of the water, and the birds, made it 
all so delightful that he wished never to leave them. He said 
to the men who were with him that to give a true relation 
to the Sovereigns of the things they had seen, a thousand 
tongues would not suffice, nor his hand to write it, for that it 
was hke a scene of enchantment. He desired that many 
other prudent and credible witnesses might see it, and he was 
sure that they would be as unable to exaggerate the scene as 
he was. 

The Admiral also says: — ''How great the benefit that is 
to be derived from this country would be, I cannot say. It 
is certain that where there are such lands there must be an 
infinite number of things that would be profitable. But I 
did not remain long in one port, because I wished to see as 
much of the country as possible, in order to make a report 
upon it to your Highnesses; and besides, I do not know the 
language, and these people neither understand me nor any other 
in my company; while the Indians I have on board often 
misunderstand. Moreover, I have not been able to see much 
of the natives, because they often take to flight. But now, 
if our Lord pleases, I will see as much as possible, and will 
proceed by little and little, learning and comprehending ; and 
I will make some of my followers learn the language. For I 
have perceived that there is only one language up to this 
point. After they understand the advantages, I shall labor 



160 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

to make all these people Christians. They will become so 
readily, because they have no religion nor idolatry, and your 
Highnesses will send orders to build a city and fortress, and to 
convert the people. I assure your Highnesses that it does not 
appear to me that there can be a more fertile country nor a 
better climate under the sun, with abundant suppHes of water. 
This is not like the rivers of Guinea, which are all pestilential. 
I thank our Lord that, up to this time, there has not been a per- 
son of my company who has had so much as a headache, or been 
in bed from illness, except an old man who has suffered from 
the stone all his life, and he was well again in two days. I 
speak of all three vessels. If it will please God that your High- 
nesses should send learned men out here, they will see the truth 
of all I have said. I have related already how good a place 
Rio de Mares would be for a town and fortress, and this is 
perfectly true; but it bears no comparison with this place, 
nor with the Mar de Nuestra Senora. For here there must be 
a large population, and very valuable productions, which I 
hope to discover before I return to Castile. I say that if 
Christendom will find profit among these people, how much 
more will Spain, to whom the whole country should be subject. 
Your Highnesses ought not to consent that any stranger 
should trade here, or put his foot in the country, except Catho- 
Uc Christians, for this was the beginning and end of the 
undertaking; namely, the increase and glory of the Christian 
reHgion, and that no one should come to these parts who was 
not a good Christian." ^ 

All the above are the Admiral's words. He ascended the 
river for some distance, examined some branches of it, and, 
returning to the mouth, he found some pleasant groves of trees, 
like a delightful orchard. Here he came upon a boat or 

* With these suggestions for a colonial policy cf. Columbus's more de- 
tailed programme in his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, pp. 273-277 
below. In the Spanish policy of exclusion of foreigners from the colonies the 
religious motive, as here, was quite as influential as the spirit of trade 
monopoly. Las Casas, in making the same quotation from the Journal, re- 
marks, I. 351 : "All these are his exact words, although some of them are 
not perfect Castilian, since that was not the Admiral's mother tongue." 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 161 

canoa, dug out of one tree, as big as a fusta * of twelve 
benches, fastened under a boat-house or bower made of wood, 
and thatched with palm-leaves, so that it could be neither 
injured by sun nor by the water. He says that here would 
be the proper site for a town and fort, by reason of the good 
port, good water, good land, and abundance of fuel. 

Wednesday, 28th of November 

The Admiral remained during this day, in consequence of 
the rain and thick weather, though he might have run along 
the coast, the wind being S.W., but he did not weigh, because 
he was unacquainted with the coast beyond, and did not know 
what danger there might be for the vessels. The sailors of 
the two vessels went on shore to wash their clothes, and some 
of them walked inland for a short distance. They found in- 
dications of a large population, but the houses were all empty, 
everyone having fled. They returned by the banks of another 
river, larger than that which they knew of, at the port. 

Thursday, 29th of November 

The rain and thick weather continuing, the Admiral did 
not get under way. Some of the Christians went to another 
village to the N.W., but found no one, and nothing in the 
houses. On the road they met an old man who could not run 
away, and caught him. They told him they did not wish to 
do him any harm, gave him a few presents, and let him go. 
The Admiral would have liked to have had speech with him, 
for he was exceedingly satisfied with the delights of that land, 
and wished that a settlement might be formed there, judging 
that it must support a large population. In one house they 
found a cake of wax,^ which was taken to the Sovereigns, the 

* The fusta was a long, low boat propelled by oars or a sail. It is 
represented in earlier English by "foist " and "fuste." 

^ Las Casas, I. 353, remarks, "This wax was never made in the island 
of Cuba, and this cake that was found came from the kingdom and provinces 
of Yucatan, where there is an immense amount of very good yellow wax." 
He supposes that it might have come from the wrecks of canoes engaged 
in trade along the coast of Yucatan. 



162 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

Admiral saying that where there was wax there were also a 
thousand other good things. The sailors also found, in one 
house, the head of a man in a basket, covered with another 
basket, and fastened to a post of the house. They found the 
same things in another village. The Admiral believed that 
they must be the heads of some founder, or principal ancestor 
of a lineage, for the houses are built to contain a great num- 
ber of people in each ; and these should be relations, and de- 
scendants of a common ancestor. 

Friday, SOth of November 

They could not get under way to-day because the wind 
was east, and dead against them. The Admiral sent 8 men 
well armed, accompanied by two of the Indians he had on 
board, to examine the villages inland, and get speech with the 
people. They came to many houses, but found no one and 
nothing, all having fled. They saw four youths who were 
digging in their fields, but, as soon as they saw the Christians, 
they ran away, and could not be overtaken. They marched 
a long distance, and saw many villages and a most fertile 
land, with much cultivation and many streams of water. Near 
one river they saw a canoe dug out of a single tree, 95 palmos ^ 
long, and capable of carrying 150 persons. 

Saturday, 1st of December 

They did not depart, because there was still a foul wind, 
with much rain. The Admiral set up a cross at the entrance 
of this port, which he called Puerto Santo,^ on some bare 
rocks. The point is that which is on the S.E. side of the en- 
trance ; but he who has to enter should make more over to the 
N.W. ; for at the foot of both, near the rock, there are 12 

* About 70 feet. Las Casas adds the words, "it was most beautiful," 
and continues, " it is no wonder for there are in that island very thick and very 
long and tall fragrant red cedars and commonly all their canoes are made 
from these valuable trees." 

* Puerto de Baracoa. (Navarrete.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 163 

fathoms and a very clean bottom. At the entrance of the port, 
toward the S.E. point, there is a reef of rocks above water/ 
sufficiently far from the shore to enable one to pass between if 
it is necessary, for both on the side of the rock and the shore 
there is a depth of 12 to 15 fathoms ; and, on entering, a ship's 
head should be turned S.W. 

Sunday, 2nd of December 

The wind was still contrary, and they could not depart. 
Every night the wind blows on the land, but no vessel need 
be alarmed at all the gales in the world, for they cannot blow 
home by reason of a reef of rocks at the opening to the haven, 
etc. A sailor-boy found, at the mouth of the river, some stones 
which looked as if they contained gold; so they were taken 
to be shown to the Sovereigns. The Admiral says that there 
are great rivers at the distance of a lombard shot.^ 

Monday, Srd of December 

By reason of the continuance of an easterly wind the Ad- 
miral did not leave this port. He arranged to visit a very 
beautiful headland a quarter of a league to the S.E. of the 
anchorage. He went with the boats and some armed men. 
At the foot of the cape there was the mouth of a fair river, 
and on entering it they found the width to be a hundred paces, 
with a depth of one fathom. Inside they found 12, 5, 4, and 
2 fathoms, so that it would hold all the ships there are in Spain. 
Leaving the river, they came to a cove in which were five very 

* This reef actually exists on the S.E. side of the entrance to this port, 
which is described with great accuracy by Columbus. (Navarrete.) 

^ Lombarda is the same as bombarda, bombard, the earliest type of 
cannon. The name has nothing to do with Lombardy, but is simply the 
form which was used in Castile in the fifteenth century while bombarda was 
used elsewhere in the peninsula and in Europe. The average-sized bom- 
bard was a twenty-five pounder. Diccionario Enciclopedico Hispano- Ameri- 
cano, art. lombarda, based on Arautegui, Apuntes Histdricos sabre la ArtU- 
leria EspaTiola en las Siglas XIV y XV. 



164 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

large canoes/ so well constructed that it was a pleasure to 
look at them. They were under spreading trees, and a path 
led from them to a very well-built boat-house, so thatched that 
neither sun nor rain could do any harm. Within it there was 
another canoe made out of a single tree like the others, like a 
fusta with 17 benches. It was a pleasant sight to look upon 
such goodly work. The Admiral ascended a mountain, and 
afterwards found the country level, and cultivated with many 
things of that land, including such calabashes, as it was a glory 
to look upon them.^ In the middle there was a large village, 
and they came upon the people suddenly ; but, as soon as they 
were seen, men and women took to flight. The Indian from 
on board, who was with the Admiral, cried out to them that they 
need not be afraid, as the strangers were good people. The 
Admiral made him give them bells, copper ornaments, and glass 
beads, green and yellow, with which they were well content. 
He saw that they had no gold nor any other precious thing, 
and that it would suffice to leave them in peace. The whole 
district was well peopled, the rest having fled from fear. The 
Admiral assures the Sovereigns that ten thousand of these 
men would run from ten, so cowardly and timid are they. 
No arms are carried by them, except wands,^ on the point of 
which a short piece of wood is fixed, hardened by fire, and these 
they are very ready to exchange. Returning to where he had 
left the boats, he sent back some men up the hill, because he 
fancied he had seen a large apiary. Before those he had sent 

* This line should be, " in which he saw five very large almadias [low, light 
boats] which the Indians call canoas, like justas, very beautiful and so well 
constructed," etc. "Canoe" is one of the few Arawak Indian words to have 
become familiar English. 

^ Rather, "He went up a mountain and then he found it all level and 
planted with many things of the country and gourds so that it was glorious 
to see it." De CandoUe believes the calabash or gourd to have been intro- 
duced into America from Africa. Cf. his Origin of Cultivated Plants, pp. 
245 ff. Oviedo, however, in his Historia General y Natural de Indias, lib. 
VIII., cap. VIII., says that the calabagas of the Indies were the same as 
those in Spain and were cultivated not to eat but to use the shells as 
vessels. 

3 Rather, "rods." 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 165 

could return, they were joined by many Indians, and they 
went to the boats, where the Admiral was waiting with all his 
people. One of the natives advanced into the river near the 
stern of the boat, and made a long speech, which the Admiral 
did not understand. At intervals the other Indians raised 
their hands to Heaven, and shouted. The Admiral thought 
he was assuring him that he was pleased at his arrival ; but he 
saw the Indian who came from the ship change the color of 
his face, and turn as yellow as wax, trembling much, and let- 
ting the Admiral know by signs that he should leave the river, 
as they were going to kill him. He pointed to a cross-bow 
which one of the Spaniards had, and showed it to the Indians, 
and the Admiral let it be understood that they would all be 
slain, because that cross-bow carried far and killed people. 
He also took a sword and drew it out of the sheath, showing 
it to them, and saying the same, which, when they had heard, 
they all took to flight; while the Indian from the ship still 
trembled from cowardice, though he was a tall, strong man. 
The Admiral did not want to leave the river, but pulled tow- 
ards the place where the natives had assembled in great num- 
bers, all painted, and as naked as when their mothers bore 
them. Some had tufts of feathers on their heads, and all had 
their bundles of darts. 

The Admiral says: ^'I came to them, and gave them some 
mouthfuls of bread, asking for the darts, for which I gave in 
exchange copper ornaments, bells, and glass beads. This 
made them peaceable, so that they came to the boats again, 
and gave us what they had. The sailors had killed a turtle, 
and the shell was in the boat in pieces. The sailor-boys gave 
them some in exchange for a bundle of darts. These are like 
the other people we have seen, and with the same belief that 
we came from Heaven. They are ready to give whatever 
thing they have in exchange for any trifle without saying it 
is little ; and I believe they would do the same with gold and 
spices if they had any. I saw a fine house, not very large, 
and with two doors, as all the rest have. On entering, I saw 
a marvellous work, there being rooms made in a peculiar way, 



166 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

that I scarcely know how to describe it. Shells and other 
things were fastened to the ceiling. I thought it was a temple, 
and I called them and asked, by signs, whether prayers were 
offered up there. They said that they were not, and one of 
them climbed up and offered me all the things that were there, 
of which I took some." 

Tuesday, Ath of December 

The Admiral made sail with httle wind, and left that port, 
which he called Puerto Santo. After going two leagues, he 
saw the great river ^ of which he spoke yesterday. Passing 
along the land, and beating to windward on S.E. and W.N.W. 
courses, they reached Cabo Lindo,^ which is E.S.E. 5 leagues 
from Cabo del Monte. A league and a half from Cabo del 
Monte there is an important but rather narrow river, which 
seemed to have a good entrance, and to be deep. Three- 
quarters of a league further on, the Admiral saw another very 
large river, and he thought it must have its source at a great 
distance. It had a hundred paces at its mouth, and no bar, 
with a depth of 8 fathoms. The Admiral sent the boat in, 
to take soundings, and they found the water fresh until it 
enters the sea. 

This river had great volume, and must have a large popu- 
lation on its banks. Beyond Cabo Lindo there is a great bay, 
which would be open for navigation to E.N.E. and S.E. 
and S.S.W. 

Wednesday, 5th of December 

All this night they were beating to windward off Cape 
Lindo, to reach the land to the east, and at sunrise the Admiral 
sighted another cape,^ two and a half leagues to the east. 
Having passed it, he saw that the land trended S. and S.W., 

* Rio Boma. (Navarrete.) 
2 Punta del Fraile. (Id.) 
' Pimta de los Azules. (Id.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 167 

and presently saw a fine high cape in that direction, 7 leagues 
distant/ He would have wished to go there, but his object 
was to reach the island of Babeque, which, according to the 
Indians, bore N.E. ; so he gave up the intention. He could not 
go to Babeque either, because the wind was N.E. Looking 
to the S.E., he saw land, which was a very large island, accord- 
ing to the information of the Indians, well peopled, and called 
by them Bohio.^ The Admiral says that the inhabitants of 
Cuba, or Juana,^ and of all the other islands, are much afraid 
of the inhabitants of Bohio, because they say that they eat 
people. The Indians relate other things, by signs, which are 
very wonderful; but the Admiral did not beheve them. He 
only inferred that those of Bohio must have more cleverness 
and cunning to be able to capture the others, who, however, 
are very poor-spirited. The wind veered from N.E. to North, 
so the Admiral determined to leave Cuba, or Juana, which, up 
to this time, he had supposed to be the mainland, on account 
of its size, having coasted along it for 120 leagues.* He shaped 
a course S.E. b. E., the land he had sighted bearing S.E. ; 
taking this precaution because the wind always veered from 
N. to N.E. again, and thence to east and S.E. The wind in- 
creased, and he made all sail, the current helping them; so 
that they were making 8 miles an hour from the morning until 
one in the afternoon (which is barely 6 hours, for they say 
that the nights were nearly 15 hours). Afterwards they went 
10 miles an hour, making good 88 miles by sunset, equal to 
22 leagues, all to the S.E. As night was coming on, the 

^ Las Casas, I. 359, says, "This high and beautiful cape whither he 
would have liked to go I believe was Point Mayci, which is the extreme end 
of Cuba toward the east." According to the modern maps of Cuba it must 
have been one of the capes to the southwest of Point Maici. 

' Cf. note 57. Las Casas, I. 359, remarks, "Its real name was Hayti, 
the last syllable long and accented." He thinks it possible that the cape 
first sighted may have been called Bohio. 

^ Columbus gave Cuba the name Juana "in memory of Prince Juan the 
heir of Castile." Historic, p. 83. 

* "In leaving the cape or eastern point of Cuba he gave it the name 
Alpha and Omega, which means beginning and end, for he believed that this 
cape was the end of the mainland in the Orient." Las Casas, I. 360. / 



168 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

Admiral ordered the caravel Nina, being a good sailer, to pro- 
ceed ahead, so as to sight a harbor at daylight. Arriving at 
the entrance of a port which was like the Bay of Cadiz, while 
it was still dark, a boat was sent in to take soundings, which 
showed a light from a lantern. Before the Admiral could beat 
up to where the caravel was, hoping that the boat would show 
a leading-mark for entering the port, the candle in the lantern 
went out. The caravel, not seeing the light, showed a light 
to the Admiral, and, running down to him, related what had 
happened. The boat's crew then showed another light, and 
the caravel made for it ; but the Admiral could not do so, and 
was standing off and on all night. 

Thursday, 6th of December 

When dayhght arrived the Admiral found himself four 
leagues from the port, to which he gave the name of Puerto 
Maria,^ and to a fine cape bearing S.S.W. he gave the name of 
Cabo de la Estrella.^ It seemed to be the furthest point of the 
island towards the south, distant 28 miles. Another point of 
land, hke an island, appeared about 40 miles to the east. To 
another fine point, 54 miles to the east, he gave the name of 
Cabo del Elefante,^ and he called another, 28 miles to the S.E., 
Cabo de Cinquin. There was a great opening or bay, which 
might be the mouth of a river,* distant 20 miles. It seemed 
that between Cabo del Elefante and that of Cinquin there was 
a great opening,^ and some of the sailors said that it formed 
an island, to which the name of Isla de la Tortuga ^ was given. 
The island appeared to be very high land, not closed in with 
mountains, but with beautiful valleys, well cultivated, the 
crops appearing like the wheat on the plain of Cordova in May. 

* The port of St. Nicholas Mole, in Hayti. (Navarrete.) 
2 Cape of St. Nicholas. (M.) 

' Punta Palmista. (Id.) 

* Puerto Escudo. {Id.) 

* The channel between Tortuga Island and the main. 
' Tortoise. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 169 

That night they saw many fires, and much smoke, as if from 
workshops,^ in the day time; it appeared to be a signal made 
by people who were at war. All the coast of this land trends 
to the east. 

At the hour of vespers the Admiral reached this port, to 
which he gave the name of Puerto de San Nicolas, in honor 
of St. Nicholas, whose day it was ; ^ and on entering it he was 
astonished at its beauty and excellence. Although he had 
given great praise to the ports of Cuba, he had no doubt that 
this one not only equalled, but excelled them, and none of 
them are hke it. At the entrance it is a league and a half wide, 
and a vessel's head should be turned S.S.E., though, owing 
to the great width, she may be steered on any bearing that is 
convenient; proceeding on this course for two leagues.^ On 
the south side of the entrance the coast forms a cape, and 
thence the course is almost the same as far as a point where 
there is a fine beach, and a plain covered with fruit-bearing 
trees of many kinds ; so that the Admiral thought there must 
be nutmegs and other spices among them, but he did not 
know them, and they were not ripe. There is a river falling 
into the harbor, near the middle of the beach. The depth of 
this port is surprising, for, until reaching the land, for a dis- 
tance of . . .■* the lead did not reach the bottom at 40 fathoms ; 
and up to this length there are 15 fathoms with a very clean 
bottom. Throughout the port there is a depth of 15 fathoms, 
with a clean bottom, at a short distance from the shore ; and 
all along the coast there are soundings with clean bottom, and 
not a single sunken rock. Inside, at the length of a boat's 
oar from the land, there are 5 fathoms. Beyond the limit of 
the port to the S.S.E. a thousand carracks could beat up. 

* Atalayas, " watchtowers." 

^ This method of giving names in honor of the saint on whose day a new 
cape or river was discovered was very commonly followed during the period 
of discoveries, and sometimes the date of a discovery, or the direction of a 
voyage, or other data can be verified by comparing the names given with the 
calendar. 

^ This clause should be " It extends in this manner to the south-south- 
east two leagues." 

* A gap in the manuscript. 



170 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

One branch of the port to the N.E. runs into the land for a 
long half league, and always the same width, as if it had been 
measured with a cord. Being in this creek, which is 25 paces 
wide, the principal entrance to the harbor is not in sight, so 
that it appears land-locked/ The depth of this creek is 11 
fathoms throughout, all with clean bottom ; and close to the 
land, where one might put the gangboards on the grass, there 
are eight fathoms. 

The whole port is open to the air, and clear of trees. All 
the island appeared to be more rocky than any that had been 
discovered. The trees are smaller, and many of them of the 
same kinds as are found in Spain, such as the ilex, the arbutus, 
and others, and it is the same with the herbs. It is a very high 
country, all open and clear, with a very fine air, and no such 
cold has been met with elsewhere, though it cannot be called 
cold except by comparison. Towards the front of the haven 
there is a beautiful valley, watered by a river ; and in that dis- 
trict there must be many inhabitants, judging from the number 
of large canoes, like galleys, with 15 benches. All the natives 
fled as soon as they saw the ships. The Indians who were on 
board had such a longing to return to their homes that the 
Admiral considered whether he should not take them back 
when he should depart from here. They were already suspi- 
cious, because he did not shape a course towards their country ; 
whence he neither believed what they said, nor could he under- 
stand them, nor they him, properly. The Indians on board 
had the greatest fear in the world of the people of this island. 
In order to get speech of the people it would be necessary to 
remain some days in harbor ; but the Admiral did not do so, 
because he had to continue his discoveries, and because he 
could not tell how long he might be detained. He trusted in 
our Lord that the Indians he brought with him would under- 
stand the language of the people of this island ; and afterwards 
he would communicate with them, trusting that it might please 
God's Majesty that he might find trade in gold before he re- 
turned. 

* This is the "Carenero," within the port of St. Nicholas. (Navarrete.) 



1492] JOUENAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 171 

Friday, 7th of December 

At daybreak the Admiral got under way, made sail, 
and left the port of St. Nicholas. He went on with the wind 
in the west for two leagues, until he reached the point which 
forms the Carenero, when the angle in the coast bore S.E., 
and the Cabo de la Estrella was 24 miles to the S.W. Thence 
he steered along the coast eastward to Cabo Cinquin about 
48 miles, 20 of them being on an E.N.E. coast. All the coast 
is very high, with a deep sea. Close in shore there are 20 to 
30 fathoms, and at the distance of a lombard-shot there is no 
bottom; all which the Admiral discovered that day, as he 
sailed along the coast with the wind S.W., much to his satis- 
faction. The cape, which runs out in the port of St. Nicholas 
the length of a shot from a lombard, could be made an island 
by cutting across it, while to sail round it is a circuit of 3 or 4 
miles. All that land is very high, not clothed with very high 
trees, but with ilex, arbutus, and others proper to the land of 
Castile. Before reaching Cape Cinquin by two leagues, the 
Admiral discovered a small roadstead ^ like an opening in the 
mountains, through which he could see a very large valley, cov- 
ered with crops hke barley, and he therefore judged that it must 
sustain a large population. Behind there was a high range of 
mountains. On reaching Cabo Cinquin, the Cabo de la Tortuga 
bore N.E. 32 miles.^ Off Cabo Cinquin, at the distance of a 
lombard-shot, there is a high rock, which is a good landmark. 
The Admiral being there, he took the bearing of Cabo del Ele- 
fante, which was E.S.E. about 70 miles,^ the intervening land 
being very high. At a distance of 6 leagues there was a conspicu- 
ous cape,^ and he saw many large valleys and plains, and high 
mountains inland, all reminding him of Spain. After 8 leagues 
he came to a very deep but narrow river, though a carrack 

^Accepting Navarrete's conjecture of abrezuela or anglezuela lov the 
reading agrezuela of the text. 

^ It should be north 11 miles. ( Navarre te.) 

^ This is an error. It should be 15 miles. (Navarrete.) The direction 
al Leste cuarta del Sueste is East by South. 

* Puerto Escudo. (Navarrete.) 



172 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

might easily enter it, and the mouth without bar or rocks. 
After 16 miles there was a wide and deep harbor/ with on bot- 
tom at the entrance, nor, at 3 paces from the shore, less than 
15 fathoms; and it runs inland a quarter of a league. It 
being yet very early, only one o'clock in the afternoon, and the 
wind being aft and blowing fresh, yet, as the sky threatened 
much rain, and it was very thick, which is dangerous even on a 
known coast, how much more in an unknown country, the 
Admiral resolved to enter the port, which he called Puerto 
de la Concepcion. He landed near a small river at the point 
of the haven, flowing from valleys and plains, the beauty of 
which was a marvel to behold. He took fishing-nets with him ; 
and, before he landed, a mullet, like those of Spain, jumped into 
the boat, this being the first time they had seen fish resembling 
the fish of Castile. The sailors caught and killed others 
and soles and other fish like those of Castile. Walking a 
short distance inland, the Admiral found much land under 
cultivation, and heard the singing of nightingales and other 
birds of Castile. Five men were seen, but they would not 
stop, running away. The Admiral found myrtles and other 
trees and plants, like those of Castile, and so also were the 
land and mountains.^ 



Saturday, 8th of December 

In this port there was heavy rain, with a fresh breeze from 
the north. The harbor is protected from all winds except the 
north ; but even this can do no harm whatever, because there 
is a great surf outside, which prevents such a sea within the 
river as would make a ship work on her cables. After midnight 
the wind veered to N.E., and then to east, from which winds 
this port is well sheltered by the island of Tortuga, distant 
36 miles.^ 

• Bahia Mosquito. (Navarrete.) 

^ Cuvier notes that neither the nightingale proper nor the Spanish 
myrtle are found in America. 

* It should be 11 miles. (Navarrete.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 173 

Sunday, 9th of December 

To-day it rained, and the weather was wintry, hke October 
in Castile. No habitations had been seen except a very beau- 
tiful house in the Puerto de S. Nicolas, which was better built 
than am^ that had been in other parts. ''The island is very 
large," says the Admiral: ''it would not be much if it has a 
circumference of 200 leagues. All the parts he had seen were 
well cultivated. He believed that the villages must be at a 
distance from the sea, whither they went when the ships ar- 
rived ; for they all took to flight, taking everything with them, 
and they made smoke-signals, hke a people at war." This port 
has a width of a thousand paces at its entrance, equal to a quar- 
ter of a league. There is neither bank nor reef within, and 
there are scarcely soundings close in shore. Its length, run- 
ning inland, is 3000 paces, all clean, and with a sandy bottom ; 
so that any ship may anchor in it without fear, and enter it 
without precaution. At the upper end there are the mouths 
of two rivers, with the most beautiful champaign country, 
almost like the lands of Spain : these even have the advantage ; 
for which reasons the Admiral gave the name of the said island 
Isla Espanola.^ 

Monday, 10th of December 

It blew hard from the N.E., which made them drag their 
anchors half a cable's length. This surprised the Admiral, 

'■ I.e., Spanish Isle, not "Little Spain," which is sometimes erroneously- 
given in explanation of the Latin Hispaniola. This last is a Latinized form 
of Espanola and not a diminutive. Las Casas, I. 367, in the corresponding 
passage, has "Seeing the greatness and beauty of this island and its resem- 
blance to Spain although much superior and that they had caught fish in it 
like the fish of Castile and for other similar reasons he decided on December 
9 when in the harbor of Concepcion to name this island Spanish Island." 

At a period some time later than his first voyage Columbus decided that 
Espanola and Cipango were the same and also identical with the Ophir of 
the Bible. Cf. his marginal note to Landino's Italian translation of Phny's 
Natural History, "la isola de Feyti, vel de Ofir, vel de Cipango, a la quale 
habio posto nome Spagnola." Raccolta Colombiana, pt. I., vol. II., p. 472. 



174 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

who had seen that the anchors had taken good hold of the 
ground. As he saw that the wind was foul for the direction in 
which he wanted to steer, he sent six men on shore, well armed, 
to go two or three leagues inland, and endeavor to open com- 
munications with the natives. They came and returned with- 
out having seen either people or houses. But they found some 
hovels, wide roads, and some places where many fires had been 
made. They saw excellent lands, and many mastic trees, 
some specimens of which they took ; but this is not the time 
for collecting it, as it does not coagulate. 

Tuesday, 11th of December 

The Admiral did not depart, because the wind was still 
east and S.E. In front of this port, as has been said, is the 
island of La Tortuga. It appears to be a large island, with the 
coast almost like that of Espanola, and the distance between 
them is about ten leagues.^ It is well to know that from the 
Cabo de Cinquin, opposite Tortuga, the coast trends to the 
south. The Admiral had a great desire to see that channel 
between these two islands, and to examine the island of Es- 
panola, which is the most beautiful thing in the world. Ac- 
cording to what the Indians said who were on board, he would 
have to go to the island of Babeque. They declared that it 
was very large, with great mountains, rivers, and valleys ; and 
that the island of Bohio was larger than Juana, which they call 
Cuba, and that it is not surrounded by water. They seem to 
imply that there is mainland behind Espanola, and they call 
it Caritaba, and say it is of vast extent. They have reason in 
saying that the inhabitants are a clever race, for all the people 
of these islands are in great fear of those of Caniba. So the 
Admiral repeats, what he has said before, that Caniba is noth- 
ing else but the Gran Can, who ought now to be very near. 
He sends ships to capture the islanders ; and as they do not 
return, their countrymen believe that they have been eaten. 

* The distance is 11 miles. (Navarrete.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 175 

Each day we understand better what the Indians say, and they 
us, so that very often we are inteUigible to each other. The 
Admiral sent people on shore, who found a great deal of mas- 
tic, but did not gather it. He says that the rains make it, 
and that in Chios they collect it in March. In these lands, 
being warmer, they might take it in January. They caught 
many fish like those of Castile — dace, salmon, hake, dory, 
gilt heads, mullets, corbinas, shrimps,^ and they saw sardines. 
They found many aloes.^ 

Wednesday, 12th of Decemher 

The Admiral did not leave the port to-day, for the same 
reason : a contrary wind. He set up a great cross on the west 
side of the entrance, on a very picturesque height, '4n sign," 
he says, ''that your Highnesses hold this land for your own, 
but chiefly as a sign of our Lord Jesus Christ." This being 
done, three sailors strolled into the woods to see the trees and 
bushes. Suddenly they came upon a crowd of people, all 
naked like the rest. They called to them, and went towards 
them, but they ran away. At last they caught a woman ; for 
I had ordered that some should be caught, that they might 
be treated well, and made to lose their fear. This would be a 
useful event, for it could scarcely be otherwise, considering 
the beauty of the country. So they took the woman, who was 
very young and beautiful, to the ship, where she talked to the 
Indians on board; for they all speak the same language. 
The Admiral caused her to be dressed, and gave her glass 
beads, hawks' bells, and brass ornaments; then he sent her 
back to the shore very courteously, according to his custom. 

* Camarones. 

^ The proper English equivalents for these names in the original are hard 
to find. The corbina was a black fish and the name is found in both Spanish 
and Portuguese. Pdmpanos is translated "giltheads," but the name is 
taken over into English as "pompano." It must be remembered that in 
many cases the names of European species were applied to American species 
which resembled them but which were really distinct species of the same 
genus. 



176 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

He sent three of the crew with her, and three of the Indians he 
had on board, that they might open communications with her 
people. The sailors in the boat, who took her on shore, told 
the Admiral that she did not want to leave the ship, but 
would rather remain with the other women he had seized at 
the port of Mares, in the island of Juana or Cuba. The In- 
dians who went to put the woman on shore said that the natives 
came in a canoe, which is their caravel, in which they navigate 
from one place to another; but when they came to the en- 
trance of the harbor, and saw the ships, they turned back, 
left the canoe, and took the road to the village. The woman 
pointed out the position of the village. She had a piece of 
gold in her nose, which showed that there was gold in that 
island. 

Thursday, 13th of December 

The three men who had been sent by the Admiral with the 
woman returned at 3 o'clock in the morning, not having gone 
with her to the village, because the distance appeared to be 
long, or because they were afraid. They said that next day 
many people would come to the ships, as they would have been 
reassured by the news brought them by the woman. The 
Admiral, with the desire of ascertaining whether there were 
any profitable commodities in that land, being so beautiful 
and fertile, and of having some speech with the people, 
and being desirous of serving the Sovereigns, determined to 
send again to the village, trusting in the news brought by the 
woman that the Christians were good people. For this ser- 
vice he selected nine men well armed, and suited for such an 
enterprise, with whom an Indian went from those who were on 
board. They reached the village, which is 4| leagues to the 
S.E., and found that it was situated in a very large and open 
valley. As soon as the inhabitants saw the Christians coming 
they all fled inland, leaving all their goods behind them. The 
village consisted of a thousand houses, with over three thou- 
sand inhabitants. The Indian whom the Christians had brought 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 177 

with them ran after the fugitives, saying that they should have 
no fear, for the Christians did not come from Cariba, but were 
from Heaven, and that they gave many beautiful thmgs to all 
the people they met. They were so impressed with what he 
said, that upwards of two thousand came close up to the Chris- 
tians, putting their hands on their heads, which was a sign of 
great reverence and friendship; and they were all trembling 
until they were reassured. The Christians related that, as 
soon as the natives had cast off their fear, they all went to the 
houses, and each one brought what he had to eat, consisting 
of yams,^ which are roots hke large radishes, which they sow 
and cultivate in all their lands, and is their staple food. They 
make bread of it, and roast it. The yam has the smell of a 
chestnut, and anyone would think he was eating chestnuts. 
They gave their guests bread and fish, and all they had. As 
the Indians who came in the ship had understood that the 
Admiral wanted to have some parrots, one of those who ac- 
companied the Spaniards mentioned this, and the natives 
brought out parrots, and gave them as many as they wanted, 
without asking anything for them. The natives asked the 
Spaniards not to go that night, and that they would give them 
many other things that they had in the mountains. While 
all these people were with the Spaniards, a great multitude 
was seen to come, with the husband of the woman whom the 
Admiral had honored and sent away. They wore hair over 
their shoulders, and came to give thanks to the Christians 
for the honor the Admiral had done them, and for the gifts. 
The Christians reported to the Admiral that this was a hand- 
somer and finer people than any that had hitherto been met 
with. But the Admiral says that he does not see how they 
can be a finer people than the others, giving to understand that 
all those he had found in the other islands were very well 
conditioned. As regards beauty, the Christians said there was 
no comparison, both men and women, and that their skins 
are whiter than the others. They saw two girls whose skins 
were as white as any that could be seen in Spain. They also 
* Rather, " bread of niames." Cf. note, p. 139. 



178 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

said, with regard to the beauty of the country they saw, that 
the best land in Castile could not be compared with it. The 
Admiral also, comparing the lands they had seen before with 
these, said that there was no comparison between them, nor 
did the plain of Cordova come near them, the difference being 
as great as between night and day. They said that all these 
lands were cultivated, and that a very wide and large river 
passed through the centre of the valley, and could irrigate 
all the fields. All the trees were green and full of fruit, and 
the plants tall and covered with flowers. The roads were 
broad and good. The climate was hke April in Castile ; the 
nightingale and other birds sang as they do in Spain during 
that month, and it was the most pleasant place in the world. 
Some birds sing sweetly at night. The crickets and frogs are 
heard a good deal. The fish are like those of Spain. They 
saw much aloe and mastic, and cotton-fields. Gold was not 
found, and it is not wonderful that it should not have been 
found in so short a time. 

Here the Admiral calculated the number of hours in the 
day and night, and from sunrise to sunset. He found that 
twenty half-hour glasses passed, though he says that here 
there may be a mistake, either because they were not turned 
with equal quickness, or because some sand may not have 
passed. He also observed with a quadrant, and found that 
he was 34 degrees from the equinoctial line/ 



Friday, lUh of December 

The Admiral left the Puerto de la Concepcion with the land- 
breeze, but soon afterwards it fell calm (and this is experienced 
every day by those who are on this coast). Later an east wind 
sprang up, so he steered N.N.E., and arrived at the island of 
Tortuga. He sighted a point which he named Punta Pierna, 
E.N.E. of the end of the island 12 miles; and from thence 

* Las Casas, I. 373, says that at that season the length of the day in 
Espanola is somewhat over eleven hours. The correct latitude is 20". 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 179 

another point was seen and named Punta Lanzada, in the 
same N.E. direction 16 miles. Thus from the end of Tortuga 
to Punta Aguda the distance is 44 miles, which is 11 leagues 
E.N.E. Along this route there are several long stretches of 
beach. The island of Tortuga is very high, but not mountain- 
ous, and is very beautiful and populous, like Espanola, and the 
land is cultivated, so that it looked Hke the plain of Cordova. 
Seeing that the wind was foul, and that he could not steer for 
the island of Baneque,^ he determined to return to the Puerto 
de la Concepcion whence he had come ; but he could not fetch 
a river which is two leagues to the east of that port. 



Saturday, l!)th of December 

Once more the Admiral left the Puerto de la Concepcion, 
but, on leaving the port, he was again met by a contrary east 
wind. He stood over to Tortuga, and then steered with the 
object of exploring the river he had been unable to reach yes- 
terday; nor was he able to fetch the river this time, but he 
anchored half a league to leeward of it, where there was clean 
and good anchoring ground. As soon as the vessels were 
secured, he went with the boats to the river, entering an arm 
of the sea, which proved not to be the river. Returning, he 
found the mouth, there being only one, and the current very 
strong. He went in with the boats to find the villagers that 
had been seen the day before. He ordered a tow-rope to be 
got out and manned by the sailors, who hauled the boats up 
for a distance of two lombard-shots. They could not get 
further owing to the strength of the current. He saw some 
houses, and the large valley where the villages were, and he 
said that a more beautiful valley he had never seen, this river 
flowing through the centre of it. He also saw people at the 
entrance, but they all took to flight. He further says that 
these people must be much hunted, for they Uve in such a 
state of fear. When the ships arrived at any port, they pres- 

* Elsewhere called Babeque. (Navarrete.) 



180 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

ently made signals by fires on heights throughout the country ; 
and this is done more in this island of Espanola and in Tor- 
tuga, which is also a large island, than in the others that were 
visited before. He called this valley Valle del Paraiso/ and 
the river Guadalquivir; because he says that it is the size of 
the Guadalquivir at Cordova. The banks consist of shingle, 
suitable for walking.^ 

Sunday, IQth of December 

At midnight the Admiral made sail with the land-breeze 
to get clear of that gulf. Passing along the coast of Espanola 
on a bowline, for the wind had veered to the east, he met a 
canoe in the middle of the gulf, with a single Indian in it. The 
Admiral was surprised how he could have kept afloat with such 
a gale blowing. Both the Indian and his canoe were taken on 
board, and he was given glass beads, bells, and brass trinkets, 
and taken in the ship, until she was off a village 17 miles from 
the former anchorage, where the Admiral came to again. The 
village appeared to have been lately built, for all the houses 
were new. The Indian then went on shore in his canoe, 
bringing the news that the Admiral and his companions were 
good people ; although the intelligence had already been con- 
veyed to the village from the place where the natives had their 
interview with the six Spaniards. Presently more than five 
hundred natives with their king came to the shore opposite 
the ships, which were anchored very close to the land. Pres- 
ently one by one, then many by many, came to the ship with- 
out bringing anything with them, except that some had a few 
grains of very fine gold in their ears and noses, which they 
readily gave away. The Admiral ordered them all to be well 
treated; and he says: ''for they are the best people in the 
world, and the gentlest; and above all I entertain the hope 
in our Lord that your Highnesses will make them all Christians, 

' Paradise Valley. 

^ Rather, "There are on the edges or banks of the shore many beautiful 
stones and it is all suitable for walking." The Spanish text seems to be 
defective. 



1492] JOURNAL OP THE FIRST VOYAGE 181 

and that they will be all your subjects, for as yours I hold 
them." He also saw that they all treated the king with 
respect, who was on the sea-shore. The Admiral sent him a 
present, which he received in great state. He was a youth of 
about 21 years of age, and he had with him an aged tutor, 
and other councillors who advised and answered him, but he 
uttered very few words. One of the Indians who had come in 
the Admiral's ship spoke to him, telling him how the Christians 
had come from Heaven, and how they came in search of gold, 
and wished to find the island of Baneque. He said that it was 
well, and that there was much gold in the said island. He 
explained to the alguazil of the Admiral ^ that the way they 
were going was the right way, and that in two days they would 
be there; adding, that if they wanted anything from the 
shore he would give it them with great pleasure. This king, 
and all the others, go naked as their mothers bore them, as 
do the women without any covering, and these were the most 
beautiful men and women that had yet been met with. They 
are fairly white, and if they were clothed and protected from 
the sun and air, they would be almost as fair as people in 
Spain. This land is cool, and the best that words can describe. 
It is very high, yet the top of the highest mountain could be 
ploughed with bullocks ; and all is diversified with plains and 
valleys. In all Castile there is no land that can be compared 
with this for beauty and fertility. All this island, as well as 
the island of Tortuga, is cultivated like the plain of Cordova. 
They raise on these lands crops of yams,^ which are small 
branches, at the foot of which grow roots hke carrots, which 
serve as bread. They powder and knead them, and make them 
into bread ; then they plant the same branch in another part, 
which again sends out four or five of the same roots, which 
are very nutritious, with the taste of chestnuts. Here they 
have the largest the Admiral had seen in any part of the world, 

' Diego de Arana of Cordova, a near relation of Beatriz Henriquez, flu 
mother of the Admiral's son Fernando. (Markham.) Alguazil mean:> con- 
stable. 

^ Ajes. The same as mames. Cf. note, p. 139. 



182 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

for he says that they have the same plant in Guinea. At this 
place they were as thick as a man's leg. All the people were 
stout and lusty, not thin, like the natives that had been seen 
before, and of a very pleasant manner, without religious be- 
lief. The trees were so luxuriant that the leaves left off being 
green, and were dark colored with verdure. It was a wonder- 
ful thing to see those valleys, and rivers of sweet water, and 
the cultivated fields, and land fit for cattle, though they have 
none, for orchards, and for anything in the world that a man 
could seek for. 

In the afternoon the king came on board the ship, where 
the Admiral received him in due form, and caused him to be 
told that the ships belonged to the Sovereigns of Castile, who 
were the greatest princes in the world. But neither the In- 
dians who were on board, who acted as interpreters, nor the 
king, believed a word of it. They maintained that the Span- 
iards came from Heaven, and that the Sovereigns of Castile 
must be in Heaven, and not in this world. They placed 
Spanish food before the king to eat, and he ate a mouthful, 
and gave the rest to his councillors and tutor, and to the rest 
who came with him. 

''Your Highnesses may believe that these lands are so good 
and fertile, especially these of the island of EspaSola, that there 
is no one who would know how to describe them, and no one 
who could believe if he had not seen them. And your High- 
nesses may beheve that this island, and all the others, are as 
much yours as Castile. Here there is only wanting a settle- 
ment and the order to the people to do what is required. For 
I, with the force I have under me, which is not large, could 
march over all these islands without opposition. I have seen 
only three sailors land, without wishing to do harm, and a mul- 
titude of Indians fled before them. They have no arms, and 
are without warlike instincts; they all go naked, and are so 
timid that a thousand would not stand before three of our men. 
So that they are good to be ordered about, to work and sow, 
and do all that may be necessary, and to build towns, and they 
should be taught to go about clothed and to adopt our customs.'' 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 183 

Monday, 17th of December 

It blew very hard during the night from E.N.E., but there 

was not much sea, as this part of the coast is enclosed and 

sheltered by the island of Tortuga. The sailors were sent 

away to fish with nets. They had much intercourse with the 

natives, who brought them certain arrows of the Caniba or 

Canibales. They are made of reeds, pointed with sharp bits 

of wood hardened by fire, and are very long. They pointed 

out two men who wanted certain pieces of flesh on their bodies, 

giving to imderstand that the Canibales had eaten them by 

mouthfuls. The Admiral did not believe it. Some Christians 

were again sent to the village, and, in exchange for glass beads, 

obtained some pieces of gold beaten out into fine leaf. They 

saw one man, whom the Admiral supposed to be Governor of 

that province, called by them Cacique,^ with a piece of gold 

leaf as large as a hand, and it appears that he wanted to barter 

with it. He went into his house, and the other remained in the 

open space outside. He cut the leaf into small pieces, and each 

time he came out he brought a piece and exchanged it. When 

he had no more left, he said by signs that he had sent for more, 

and that he would bring it another day. The Admiral says 

that all these things, and the manner of doing them, with their 

gentleness and the information they gave, showed these people 

to be more lively and intelligent than any that had hitherto 

been met with. In the afternoon a canoe arrived from the 

island of Tortuga with a crew of forty men ; and when they 

arrived on the beach, all the people of the village sat down in 

sign of peace, and nearly all the crew came on shore. The 

cacique rose by himself, and, with words that appeared to be 

of a menacing character, made them go back to the canoe and 

shove off. He took up stones from the beach and threw 

them into the water, all having obediently gone back into the 

canoe. He also took a stone and put it in the hands of my 

Alguazil,^ that he might throw it. He had been sent on shore 

* This Indian word survives in modern Spanish with the meaning poUti- 
cal boss. 

^ Diego de Arana. 



184 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

with the Secretary ^ to see if the canoe had brought anything 
of value. The alguazil did not wish to throw the stone. 
That cacique showed that he was well disposed to the Admiral. 
Presently the canoe departed, and afterwards they said to the 
Admiral that there was more gold in Tortuga than in Espanola, 
because it is nearer to Baneque. The Admiral did not think 
that there were gold mines either in Espanola or Tortuga, but 
that the gold was brought from Baneque in small quantities, 
there being nothing to give in return. That land is so rich 
that there is no necessity to work much to sustain life, nor to 
clothe themselves, as they go naked. He believed that they 
were very near the source, and that our Lord would point out 
where the gold has its origin. He had information that from 
here to Baneque was four days' journey, about 34 leagues, 
which might be traversed with a fair wind in a single day. 



Tuesday, ISth of December 

The Admiral remained at the same anchorage, because 
there was no wind, and also because the cacique had said that 
he had sent for gold. The Admiral did not expect much from 
what might be brought, but he wanted to understand better 
whence it came. Presently he ordered the ship and caravel 
to be adorned with arms and dressed with flags, in honor of the 
feast of Santa Maria de la 0,^ or commemoration of the Annun- 
ciation, which was on that day, and many rounds were fired 
from the lombards. The king of that island of Espanola had 
got up very early and left his house, which is about five leagues 
away, reaching the village at three in the morning. There 

* Rodrigo de Escobedo. 

^ In Spain in earlier times the Annunciation was celebrated on December 
18 to avoid having it come in Lent. When the Roman usage in regard to 
Annunciation was adopted in Spain they instituted the Feast of our Lady's 
Expectation on December 18. It was called "The Feast of O because the 
first of the greater antiphons is said in the vespers of its vigil." Addis and 
Arnold, Catholic Dictionary, under " Marv." The series of anthems all begin 
with"0." 



1492] JOUKNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 185 

were several men from the ship in the village, who had been sent 
by the Admiral to see if any gold had arrived. They said that 
the king came with two hundred men ; that he was carried in a 
htter by four men ; and that he was a youth, as has already 
been said. To-day, when the Admiral was dining under the 
poop, the king came on board with all his people. 

The Admiral says to the Sovereigns: ''Without doubt, 
his state, and the reverence with which he is treated by all 
his people, would appear good to your Highnesses, though they 
all go naked. When he came on board, he found that I was 
dining at a table under the poop, and, at a quick walk, he came 
to sit down by me, and did not wish that I should give place by 
coming to receive him or rising from the table, but that I should 
go on with my dinner. I thought that he would like to eat 
of our viands, and ordered them to be brought for him to eat. 
When he came under the poop, he made signs with his hand that 
all the rest should remain outside, and so they did, with the 
greatest possible promptitude and reverence. They all sat on 
the deck, except the men of mature age, whom I beheve to be 
his councillors and tutor, who came and sat at his feet. Of 
the viands which I put before him, he took of each as much as 
would serve to taste it, sending the rest to his people, who all 
partook of the dishes. The same thing in drinking: he just 
touched with his lips, giving the rest to his followers. They 
were all of fine presence and very few words. What they did 
say, so far as I could make out, was very clear and intelHgent. 
The two at his feet watched his mouth, speaking to him and 
for him, and with much reverence. After dinner, an atten- 
dant brought a girdle, made hke those of Castile, but of differ- 
ent material, which he took and gave to me, with pieces of 
worked gold, very thin. I believe they get very little here, 
but they say that they are very near the place where it is found, 
and where there is plenty. I saw that he was pleased with some 
drapery I had over my bed, so I gave it him, with some very 
good amber beads I wore on my neck, some colored shoes, and 
a bottle of orange-flower water. He was marvellously well 
content, and both he and his tutor and councillors were very 



186 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

sorry that they could not understand me, nor I them. How- 
ever, I knew that they said that, if I wanted anything, the 
whole island was at my disposal. I sent for some beads of 
mine, with which, as a charm, I had a gold excelente,* on which 
your Highnesses were stamped. I showed it to him, and said, 
as I had done yesterday, that your Highnesses ruled the best 
part of the world, and that there were no princes so great. I 
also showed him the royal standards, and the others with a 
cross, of which he thought much. He said to his councillors 
what great lords your Highnesses must be to have sent me 
from so far, even from Heaven to this country, without fear. 
Many other things passed between them which I did not 
understand, except that it was easy to see that they held 
everything to be very wonderful." 

When it got late, and the king wanted to go, the Admiral 
sent him on shore in his boat very honorably, and saluted him 
with many guns. Having landed, he got into his litter, and 
departed with his 200 men, his son being carried behind on 
the shoulders of an Indian, a man highly respected. All the 
sailors and people from the ships were given to eat, and treated 
with much honor wherever they hked to stop. One sailor 
said that he had stopped in the road and seen all the things 
given by the Admiral. A man carried each one before the 
king, and these men appeared to be among those who were 
most respected. His son came a good distance behind the 
king, with a similar number of attendants, and the same with 
a brother of the king, except that the brother went on foot, 
supported under the arms by two honored attendants. This 
brother came to the ship after the king, and the Admiral 
presented him with some of the things used for barter. It 
was then that the Admiral learnt that a king was called Cacique 
in their language. This day little gold was got by barter, but 
the Admiral heard from an old man that there were many 
neighboring islands, at a distance of a hundred leagues or 
more, as he understood, in which much gold is found; and 
there is even one island that was all gold. In the others there 

* The excelente was worth two casteilanos or about $6 in coin value. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 187 

was so much that it was said they gather it with sieves, and 
they fuse it and make bars, and work it in a thousand ways. 
They explained the work by signs. This old man pointed out 
to the Admiral the direction and position, and he determined 
to go there, saying that if the old man had not been a principal 
councillor of the king he would detain him, and make him go, 
too; or if he knew the language he would ask him, and he 
believed, as the old man was friendly with him and the other 
Christians, that he would go of his own accord. But as these 
people were now subjects of the King of Castile, and it would 
not be right to injure them, he decided upon leaving him. The 
Admiral set up a very large cross in the centre of the square 
of that village, the Indians giving much help; they made 
prayers and worshipped it, and, from the feeling they show, 
the Admiral trusted in our Lord that all the people of those 
islands would become Christians. 



Wednesday, 19th of December 

This night the Admiral got under way to leave the gulf 
formed between the islands of Tortuga and Espanola, but at 
dawn of day a breeze sprang up from the east, against which 
he was unable to get clear of the strait between the two islands 
during the whole day. At night he was unable to reach a port 
which was in sight. ^ He made out four points of land, and a 
great bay with a river, and beyond he saw a large bay,^ where 
there was a village, with a valley behind it among high moun- 
tains covered with trees, which appeared to be pines. Over 
the Two Brothers there is a very high mountain-range running 
N.E. and S.W., and E.S.E. from the Cabo de Torres is a small 
island to which the Admiral gave the name of Santo Tomas, 
because to-morrow was his vigil. The whole circuit of this 
island alternates with capes and excellent harbors, so far as 
could be judged from the sea. Before coming to the island on 

* El Puerto de la Granja. (Navarrete.) 
^ The bay of Puerto Margot. (Id.) 



188 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

the west side, there is a cape which runs far into the sea, in 
part high, the rest low ; and for this reason the Admiral named 
it Cabo Alto y Bajo.^ From the road ^ of Torres East by South 
60 miles, there is a momitain higher than any that reaches 
the sea,^ and from a distance it looks hke an island, owing to 
a depression on the land side. It was named Monte Caribata, 
because that province was called Caribata. It is very beau- 
tiful, and covered with green trees, without snow or clouds. 
The weather was then, as regards the air and temperature, 
like March in Castile, and as regards vegetation, like May. 
The nights lasted 14 hours.^ 



Thursday, 20th of December 

At sunrise they entered a port between the island of Santo 
Tomas and the Cabo de Carabata,^ and anchored. This port 
is very beautiful, and would hold all the ships in Christendom. 
The entrance appears impossible from the sea to those who have 
never entered, owing to some reefs of rocks which run from the 
mountainous cape almost to the island. They are not placed 
in a row, but one here, another there, some towards the sea, 
others near the land. It is therefore necessary to keep a good 
look-out for the entrances, which are wide and with a depth of 
7 fathoms, so that they can be used without fear. Inside the 
reefs there is a depth of 12 fathoms. A ship can He with a 
cable made fast, against any wind that blows. At the entrance 
of this port there is a channel on the west side of a sandy islet 
with 7 fathoms, and many trees on its shore. But there are 
many sunken rocks in that direction, and a look-out should be 
kept up until the port is reached. Afterwards there is no need 
to fear the greatest storm in the world. From this port a very 
beautiful cultivated valley is in sight, descending from the S.E., 

* Point and Island of Margot. (Navarrete.) 
^ Camino for Cabo (?). (Markham.) 

' Mountain over Guarico. (Navarrete.) 

* Cf. p. 178, note. 

* 3ahia de Aciil. (Navarrete.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 189 

surrounded by such lofty mountains that they appear to reach 
the sky, and covered with green trees. Without doubt there 
are mountains here which are higher than the island of Tenerife, 
in the Canaries, which is held to be the highest yet known.' On 
this side of the island of Santo Tomas, at a distance of a league, 
there is another islet, and beyond it another, forming wonder- 
ful harbors ; though a good look-out must be kept for sunken 
rocks. The Admiral also saw villages, and smoke made by 
them. 

Friday, 21st of December 

To-day the Admiral went with the ship's boats to examine 
this port, which he found to be such that it could not be 
equalled by any he had yet seen ; but, having praised the others 
so much, he knew not how to express himself, fearing that he 
will be looked upon as one who goes beyond the truth. He 
therefore contents himself with saying that he had old sailors 
with him who say the same. All the praises he has bestowed 
on the other ports are true, and that this is better than any 
of them is equally true. He further says: ''I have traversed 
the sea for 23 years,^ without leaving it for any time worth 
counting, and I saw all the east and the west, going on the 
route of the north, which is England, and I have been to 
Guinea, but in all those parts there will not be found the per- 
fection of harbors . . .^ always found . . .* better than 
another, that I, with good care, saw written; and I again 
affirm it was well written, that this one is better than all 
others, and will hold all the ships of the world, secured with the 

' This conjecture proved to be wrong. ThePeakof Teneriffe is over 12,000 
ft. high, while 10,300 ft. (Mt. Tina) is the highest elevation in Santo Do- 
mingo. 

^ This is one of the passages used to determine the date of Columbus's 
birth. By combining his statement quoted in the Historic of Ferdinand, ch. 
IV., that he went to sea at 14, and this assertion that he followed the sea 
steadily for 23 years, we find that he was 37 years old in 1484 or 1485, when 
he left Portugal and ceased sea-faring till 1492. 

^ A gap of a line and a half in the manuscript. 

* Another gap in the manuscript. 



190 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

oldest cables."^ From the entrance to the end is a distance of 
five leagues.^ The Admiral saw some very well cultivated 
lands, although they are all so, and he sent two of the boat's 
crew to the top of a hill to see if any village was near, for none 
could be seen from the sea. At about ten o'clock that night, 
certain Indians came in a canoe to see the Admiral and the 
Christians, and they were given presents, with which they were 
much pleased. The two men returned, and reported that they 
had seen a very large village at a short distance from the sea.^ 
The Admiral ordered the boat to row towards the place where 
the village was until they came near the land, when he saw two 
Indians, who came to the shore apparently in a state of fear. 
So he ordered the boats to stop, and the Indians that were 
with the Admiral were told to assure the two natives that no 
harm whatever was intended to them. Then they came nearer 
the sea, and the Admiral nearer the land. As soon as the 
natives had got rid of their fear, so many came that they 
covered the ground, with women and children, giving a thou- 
sand thanks. They ran hither and thither to bring us bread 
made of niames, which they call ajes, which is very white and 
good, and water in calabashes, and in earthen jars made like 
those of Spain, and everything else they had and that they 
thought the Admiral could want, and all so willingly and 
cheerfully that it was wonderful. ''It cannot be said that, 
because what they gave was worth little, therefore they gave 
Hberally, because those who had pieces of gold gave as freely 
as those who had a calabash of water ; and it is easy to know 
when a thing is given with a hearty desire to give." These 
are the Admiral's words. ''These people have no spears nor 
any other arms, nor have any of the inhabitants of the whole 

* The mutilation of the text makes this passage difficult. The third line 
literally is, "and I saw all the east [or perhaps better the Levant, el Levante] 
and the west which means the way to England," etc. After the second gap 
read : "better than the other which I with proper caution tried to describe." 
After "world," read : "and [is] enclosed so that the oldest cable of the ship 
would hold it fast." 

* The distance is six miles. (Navarrete.) 
'Aciil. (Id.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 191 

island, which I beheve to be very large. They go naked as 
when their mothers bore them, both men and women. In 
Juana and the other islands the women wear a small clout of 
cotton in front, with which to cover their private parts, as large 
as the flap of a man's breeches, especially after they have passed 
the age of twelve years, but here neither old nor young do so. 
Also, the men in the other islands jealously hide their women 
from the Christians, but here they do not." The women 
have very beautiful bodies, and they were the first to come 
and give thanks to Heaven, and to bring what they had, 
especially things to eat, such as bread of ajes, nuts,^ 
and four or five kinds of fruits, some of which the Admiral 
ordered to be preserved, to be taken to the Sovereigns. He 
says that the women did not do less in other ports before they 
were hidden; and he always gave orders that none of his 
people should annoy them; that nothing should be taken 
against their wills, and that everything that was taken should 
be paid for. Finally, he says that no one could believe that 
there could be such good-hearted people, so free to give, 
anxious to let the Christians have all they wanted, and, when 
visitors arrived, running to bring everything to them. 

Afterwards the Admiral sent six Christians to the village 
to see what it was like, and the natives showed them all the 
honor they could devise, and gave them all they had ; for no 
doubt was any longer entertained that the Admiral and all his 
people had come from Heaven ; and the same was beheved by 
the Indians who were brought from the other islands, although 
they had now been told what they ought to think. When the 
six Christians had gone, some canoas came with people to ask 
the Admiral to come to their village when he left the place 
where he was. Canoa is a boat in which they navigate, some 
large and others small. Seeing that this village of the chief 
was on the road, and that many people were waiting there 
for him, the Admiral went there ; but, before he could depart, 
an enormous crowd came to the shore, men, women, and chil- 

* Gome avellanada. The interpretation of the French translators is 
followed. The word gonze is not given in the dictionaries. 



192 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

dren, crying out to him not to go, but to stay with them. The 
messengers from the other chief, who had come to invite him, 
were waiting with their canoes, that he might not go away, 
but come to see their cliief, and so he did. On arriving where 
the chief was waiting for him with many things to eat, he or- 
dered that all the people should sit down, and that the food 
should be taken to the boats, where the Admiral was, on the 
sea-shore. When he saw that the Admiral had received what 
he sent, all or most of the Indians ran to the village, which 
was near, to bring more food, parrots, and other things they 
had, with such frankness of heart that it was marvellous. The 
Admiral gave them glass beads, brass trinkets, and bells : not 
because they asked for anything in return, but because it 
seemed right, and, above all, because he now looked upon them 
as future Christians, and subjects of the Sovereigns, as much 
as the people of Castile. He further says that they want 
nothing except to know the language and be under governance ; 
for all they may be told to do will be done without any contra- 
diction. The Admiral left this place to go to the ships, and 
the people, men, women, and children, cried out to him not 
to go, but remain with them. After the boats departed, 
several canoes full of people followed after them to the ship, 
who were received with much honor, and given to eat. There 
had also come before another chief from the west, and many 
people even came swimming, the ship being over a good half- 
league from the shore. I sent certain persons to the chief, 
who had gone back, to ask him about these islands. He 
received them very well, and took them to his village, to give 
them some large pieces of gold. They arrived at a large river, 
which the Indians crossed by swimming. The Christians 
were unable, so they turned back. In all this district there 
are very high mountains which seem to reach the sky, so that 
the mountain in the island of Tenerife appears as nothing 
in height and beauty, and they are all green with trees. Be- 
tween them there are very delicious valleys, and at the end 
of this port, to the south, there is a valley so large that the end 
of it is not visible, though no mountains intervene, so that it 



1492] JOURKAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 193 

seems to be 15 or 20 leagues long. A river flows through it, 
and it is all inhabited and cultivated, and as green as Castile 
in May or June; but the night contains 14 hours, the land 
being so far north. This port is very good for all the winds 
that can blow, being enclosed and deep, and the shores peopled 
by a good and gentle race without arms or evil designs. Any 
ship may lie within it without fear that other ships will enter 
at night to attack her, because, although the entrance is over 
two leagues wide, it is protected by reefs of rocks which are 
barely awash ; and there is only a very narrow channel through 
the reef, which looks as if it had been artificially made, leav- 
ing an open door by which ships may enter. In the entrance 
there are 7 fathoms of depth up to the shore of a small flat 
island, which has a beach fringed with trees. The entrance 
is on the west side, and a ship can come without fear until 
she is close to the rock. On the N.W. side there are three 
islands, and a great river a league from the cape on one side 
of the port. It is the best harbor in the world, and the Ad- 
miral gave it the name of Puerto de la Mar de Santo Tomas, 
because to-day it was that Saint's day. The Admiral called 
it a sea, owing to its size. 



Saturday, 22nd of December 

At dawn the Admiral made sail to shape a course in search 
of the islands which the Indians had told him contained much 
gold, some of them having more gold than earth. But the 
weather was not favorable, so he anchored again, and sent away 
the boat to fish with a net. The lord of that land,^ who had 
a place near there, sent a large canoe full of people, including 
one of his principal attendants, to invite the Admiral to come 
with the ships to his land, where he would give him all he 
wanted. The chief sent, by this servant, a girdle which, in- 

* "This king was the great lord and king Guacanagari, one of the five 
great kings and lordships of this island." Las Casas, I. 389. 



194 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

stead of a purse/ had attached to it a mask with two large ears 
made of beaten gold, the tongue, and the nose. These people 
are very open-hearted, and whatever they are asked for they 
give most willingly; while, when they themselves ask for 
anything, they do so as if receiving a great favor. So says 
the Admiral. They brought the canoe alongside the boat, 
and gave the girdle to a boy ; then they came on board with 
their mission. It took a good part of the day before they could 
be understood. Not even the Indians who were on board 
understood them well, because they have some differences of 
words for the names of things. At last their invitation was 
understood by signs. The Admiral determined to start to- 
morrow, although he did not usually sail on a Sunday, owing to 
a devout feeling, and not on account of any superstition what- 
ever. But in the hope that these people would become 
Christians through the willingness they show, and that they 
will be subjects of the Sovereigns of Castile, and because he 
now holds them to be so, and that they may serve with love, 
he wished and endeavored to please them. Before leaving, 
to-day, the Admiral sent six men to a large village three leagues 
to the westward, because the chief had come the day before 
and said that he had some pieces of gold. When the Chris- 
tians arrived, the secretary of the Admiral, who was one of 
them, took the chief by the hand. The Admiral had sent 
him, to prevent the others from imposing upon the Indians. 
As the Indians are so simple, and the Spaniards so avaricious 
and grasping, it does not suffice that the Indians should give 
them all they want in exchange for a bead or a bit of glass, 
but the Spaniards would take everything without any return at 
all. The Admiral always prohibits this, although, with the 
exception of gold, the things given by the Indians are of little 
value. But the Admiral, seeing the simphcity of the Indians, 

^ "This girdle was of fine jewellery work, like misshapen pearls, made of 
fish-bones white and colored interspersed, like embroidery, so sewed with a 
thread of cotton and by such delicate skill that on the reverse side it looked 
like delicate embroidery, although all white, which it was a pleasure to see." 
Las Casas, L 389. From this we learn that wampum belts were in use 
among the Indians of Espanola. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 195 

and that they will give a piece of gold in exchange for six 
beads, gave the order that nothing should be received from 
them unless sometliing had been given in exchange. Thus 
the chief took the secretary by the hand and led him to his 
house, followed by the whole village, which was very large. 
He made his guests eat, and the Indians brought them 
many cotton fabrics, and spun-cotton in skeins. In the 
afternoon the chief gave them three very fat geese and some 
small pieces of gold. A great number of people went back 
with them, carrying all the things they had got by barter, 
and they also carried the Spaniards themselves across streams 
and muddy places. The Admiral ordered some things to be 
given to the chief, and both he and his people were very well 
satisfied, truly beheving that the Christians had come from 
Heaven, so that they considered themselves fortunate in be- 
holding them. On this day more than 120 canoes came to 
the ships, all full of people, and all bringing something, es- 
pecially their bread and fish, and fresh water in earthen jars. 
They also brought seeds of good kinds, and there was a grain 
which they put into a porringer of water and drank it. The 
Indians who were on board said that this was very whole- 
some. 

Sunday, 23rd of December 

The Admiral could not go with the ships to that land 
whither he had been invited by the chief, because there was no 
wind. But he sent, with the three messengers who were 
waiting for the boats, some people, including the secretary. 
While they were gone, he sent two of the Indians he had on board 
with him to the villages which were near the anchorage. They 
returned to the ship with a chief, who brought the news that 
there was a great quantity of gold in that island of Espanola, 
and that people from other parts came to buy it. They said 
that here the Admiral would find as much as he wanted. 
Others came, who confirmed the statement that there was 
much gold in the island, and explained the way it was collected. 



196 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

The Admiral understood all this with much difficulty ; never- 
theless, he concluded that there was a very great quantity in 
those parts, and that, if he could find the place whence it was 
got, there would be abundance; and, if not, there would be 
nothing. He believed there must be a great deal, because, 
during the three days that he had been in that port, he had 
got several pieces of gold, and he could not believe that it 
was brought from another land. ''Our Lord, who holds all 
things in his hands, look upon me, and grant what shall be 
for his service." These are the Admiral's words. He says 
that, according to his reckoning, a thousand people had visited 
the ship, all of them bringing something. Before they come 
alongside, at a distance of a crossbow-shot, they stand up in 
the canoe with what they bring in their hands, crying out, 
''Take it! take it!" He also reckoned that 500 came to 
the ship swimming, because they had no canoes, the ship 
being near a league from the shore. Among the visitors, 
five chiefs had come, sons of chiefs, with all their families of 
wives and children, to see the Christians. The Admiral 
ordered something to be given to all, because such gifts were 
all well employed. "May our Lord favor me by his clemency, 
that I may find this gold, I mean the mine of gold, which I 
hold to be here, many saying that they know it." These are 
his words. The boats arrived at night, and said that there was 
a grand road as far as they went, and they found many canoes, 
with people who went to see the Admiral and the Christians, 
at the mountain of Caribatan. They held it for certain that, if 
the Christmas festival was kept in that port,^ all the people of 
the island would come, which they calculated to be larger 
than England.^ All the people went with them to the village,^ 
which they said was the largest, and the best laid out with 
streets, of any they had seen. The Admiral says it is part of 
the Punta Santa,* almost three leagues S.E. The canoes go 

' Port of Guarico. (Navarrete.) 

"^ This estimate was far too great. The island is about one-third the 
size of Great Britain and one-half the size of England. 
' Guarico. 
* It is now called San Honorato. (Navarrete.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 197 

very fast with paddles; so they went ahead to apprise the 
Cacique, as they call the chief. Up to that time the Admiral 
had not been able to understand whether Cacique meant 
king or governor. They also have another name for a great 
man — Nitayno; ^ but it was not clear whether they used it 
for lord, or governor, or judge. At last the cacique came to 
them, and joined them in the square, which was clean-swept, 
as was all the village. The population numbered over 2,000 
men. This king did great honor to the people from the ship, 
and every inhabitant brought them something to eat and 
drink. Afterwards the king gave each of them cotton cloths 
such as women wear, with parrots for the Admiral, and some 
pieces of gold. The people also gave cloths and other things 
from their houses to the sailors; and as for the trifles they 
got in return, they seemed to look upon them as relics. When 
they wanted to return in the afternoon, he asked them to stay 
until the next day, and all the people did the same. When 
they saw that the Spaniards were determined to go, they ac- 
companied them most of the way, carrying the gifts of the 
cacique on their backs as far as the boats, which had been left 
at the mouth of the river. 

Monday, 24:th of December 

Before sunrise the Admiral got under way with the land- 
breeze. Among the numerous Indians who had come to the 
ship yesterday, and had made signs that there was gold in 
the island, naming the places whence it was collected, the 
Admiral noticed one who seemed more fully informed, or who 
spoke with more willingness, so he asked him to come with the 
Christians and show them the position of the gold mines. This 
Indian has a companion or relation with him, and among other 
places they mentioned where gold was found, they named 
Cipango, which they called Civao.^ Here they said that there 

' "The fact is that Cacique was the word for king, and Nitayno for knight 
and principal lord." Las Casas, I. 394. 

' The similarity between the names and the report of gold made Colum- 
bus particularly confident of the identification. 



198 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

was a great quantity of gold, and that the cacique carried 
banners of beaten gold. But they added that it was very far 
off to the eastward. 

Here the Admiral addresses the following words to the 
Sovereigns: "Your Highnesses may beheve that there is no 
better nor gentler people in the world. Your Highnesses ought 
to rejoice that they will soon become Christians, and that they 
will be taught the good customs of your kingdom. A better 
race there cannot be, and both the people and the lands are in 
such quantity that I know not how to write it. I have spoken 
in the superlative degree of the country and people of Juana, 
which they call Cuba, but there is as much difference between 
them and this island and people as between day and night. I 
believe that no one who should see them could say less than I 
have said, and I repeat that the things and the great villages 
of this island of Espanola, which they call Bohio, are wonder- 
ful. All here have a loving manner and gentle speech, unlike 
the others, who seem to be menacing when they speak. Both 
men and women are of good stature, and not black. It is 
true that they all paint, some with black, others with other 
colors, but most with red. I know that they are tanned by 
the sun, but this does not affect them much. Their houses 
and villages are pretty, each with a chief, who acts as their 
judge, and who is obeyed by them. All these lords use few 
words, and have excellent manners. Most of their orders are 
given by a sign with the hand, which is understood with sur- 
prising quickness." All these are the words of the Admiral. 

He who would enter the sea of Santo Tome ^ ought to stand 
for a good league across the mouth to a flat island in the middle, 
which was named La Amiga, ^ pointing her head towards it. 
When the ship is within a stone's-throw of it the course should be 
altered to make for the eastern shore, leaving the west side, 
and this shore, and not the other, should be kept on board, 
because a great reef runs out from the west, and even beyond 
that there are three sunken rocks. This reef comes within a 

' Entrance of the Bay of Acul. (Navarrete.) 
* Isla de Ratos. (Id.) 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 199 

lombard-shot of the Amiga island. Between them there are 
seven fathoms at least, with a gravelly bottom. Within, a 
harbor will be found large enough for all the ships in the world, 
which would be there without need of cables. There is another 
reef, with sunken rocks, on the east side of the island of Amiga, 
which are extensive and run out to sea, reaching within two 
leagues of the cape. But it appeared that between them there 
was an entrance, within two lombard-shots of Amiga, on the 
west side of Monte Caribatan, where there was a good and very 
large port.^ 

Tuesday, 25th of December. Christmas 

Navigating yesterday, with little wind, from Santo Tome 
to Punta Santa, and being a league from it, at about eleven 
o'clock at night the Admiral went down to get some sleep, 
for he had not had any rest for two days and a night. As 
it was calm, the sailor who steered the ship thought he would go 
to sleep, leaving the tiller in charge of a boy.^ The Admiral 
had forbidden this throughout the voyage, whether it was 
blowing or whether it was calm. The boys were never to be 
entrusted with the helm. The Admiral had no anxiety 
respecting sand-banks and rocks, because, when he sent the 
boats to that king on Sunday, they had passed to the east of 
Punta Santa at least three leagues and a half, and the sailors 
had seen all the coast, and the rocks there are from Punta 
Santa, for a distance of three leagues to the E.S.E. They 
saw the course that should be taken, which had not been the 
case before, during this voyage. It pleased our Lord that, at 
twelve o'clock at night, when the Admiral had retired to rest, 
and when all had fallen asleep, seeing that it was a dead calm 
and the sea like glass, the tiller being in the hands of a boy, the 
current carried the ship on one of the sand-banks. If it had 
not been night the bank could have been seen, and the surf 
on it could be heard for a good league. But the ship ran upon 

^ Puerto Frances. (Navarrete.) 

^ Perhaps better "a young common sailor." 



200 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

it so gently that it could scarcely be felt. The boy, who felt 
the helm and heard the rush of the sea, cried out. The Ad- 
miral at once came up, and so quickly that no one had felt that 
the ship was aground. Presently the master of the ship,^ 
whose watch it was, came on deck. The Admiral ordered him 
and others to launch the boat, which was on the poop, and lay 
out an anchor astern. The master, with several others, got 
into the boat, and the Admiral thought that they did so with 
the object of obeying his orders. But they did so in order to 
take refuge with the caravel, which was half a league to lee- 
ward. The caravel would not allow them to come on board, 
acting judiciously, and they therefore returned to the ship; 
but the caravel's boat arrived first. When the Admiral saw 
that his own people fled in this way, the water rising and the 
ship being across the sea, seeing no other course, he ordered 
the masts to be cut away and the ship to be lightened as much 
as possible, to see if she would come off. But, as the water 
continued to rise, nothing more could be done. Her side fell 
over across the sea, but it was nearly calm. Then the timbers 
opened, and the ship was lost.^ The Admiral went to the cara- 
vel to arrange about the reception of the ship's crew, and as a 
light breeze was blowing from the land, and continued during 
the greater part of the night, while it was unknown how far 
the bank extended, he hove her to until daylight. He then 
went back to the ship, inside the reef ; first having sent a boat 
on shore with Diego de Arana of Cordova, alguazil of the fleet, 
and Pedro Gutierrez, gentleman of the king's bedchamber, 
to inform the king, who had invited the ships to come on the 
previous Saturday. His town was about a league and a half 
from the sand-bank. They reported that he wept when he 

' The master, who was also the owner, of the Admiral's ship was Juan 
de la Cosa of Santona, afterwards well known as a draughtsman and pilot. 
(Markham.) 

* Rather, "Then the seams opened but not the ship." That is, the ship 
was not stove. The word translated "seams" is conventos, which Las Casas, 
I. 398, defines as los vagos que hay entre costillas y costillas. In this passage 
he is using costillas not in the technical sense of costillas de nao, "ribs," but 
in the sense of "planks," as in costillas de cuba, "barrel staves." 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 201 

heard the news, and he sent all his people with large canoes 
to unload the ship. This was done, and they landed all there 
was between decks in a very short time. Such was the great 
promptitude and diligence shown by that king. He himself, 
with brothers and relations, was actively assisting as well in 
the ship as in the care of the property when it was landed, that 
all might be properly guarded. Now and then he sent one of 
his relations weeping to the Admiral, to console him, saying 
that he must not feel sorrow or annoyance, for he would supply 
all that was needed. The Admiral assured the Sovereigns 
that there could not have been such good watch kept in any 
part of Castile, for that there was not even a needle missing. 
He ordered that all the property should be placed by some 
houses which the king placed at his disposal, until they were 
emptied, when everything would be stowed and guarded in 
them. Armed men were placed round the stores to watch 
all night. ''The king and all his people wept [says the Ad- 
miral]. They are a loving people, without covetousness, and 
fit for anything; and I assure your Highnesses that there is 
no better land nor people. They love their neighbors as them- 
selves, and their speech is the sweetest and gentlest in the 
world, and always with a smile. Men and women go as naked 
as when their mothers bore them. Your Highnesses should 
beheve that they have very good customs among themselves. 
The king is a man of remarkable presence, and with a certain 
self-contained manner that is a pleasure to see. They have 
good memories, wish to see everything, and ask the use of 
what they see." All this is written by the Admiral. 

Wednesday, 2Qth of December 

To-day, at sunrise, the king of that land came to the cara- 
vel Nina, where the Admiral was, and said to him, almost weep- 
ing, that he need not be sorry, for that he would give him 
all he had ; that he had placed two large houses at the disposal 
of the Christians who were on shore, and that he would give 
more if they were required, and as many canoes as could load 
from the ship and discharge on shore, with as many people as 



202 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

were wanted. This had all been done yesterday, without so 
much as a needle being missed. ''So honest are they," says the 
Admiral, ''without any covetousness for the goods of others, 
and so above all was that virtuous king." While the Admiral 
was talking to him, another canoe arrived from a different place, 
bringing some pieces of gold, which the people in the canoe 
wanted to exchange for a hawk's bell ; for there was nothing 
they desired more than these bells. They had scarcely come 
alongside when they called and held up the gold, saying Chuq 
chuq for the bells, for they are quite mad about them. After 
the king had seen this, and when the canoes which came from 
other places had departed, he called the Admiral and asked him 
to give orders that one of the bells was to be kept for another 
day, when he would bring four pieces of gold the size of a man's 
hand. The Admiral rejoiced to hear this, and afterwards a 
sailor, who came from the shore, told him that it was wonder- 
ful what pieces of gold the men on shore were getting in ex- 
change for next to nothing. For a needle they got a piece of 
gold worth two castellanos, and that this was nothing to what 
it would be within a month. The king rejoiced much when he 
saw that the Admiral was pleased. He understood that his 
friend wanted much gold, and he said, by signs, that he knew 
where there was, in the vicinity, a very large quantity; so 
that he must be in good heart, for he should have as much as he 
wanted. He gave some account of it, especially saying that in 
Cipango, which they call Cibao,^ it is so abundant that it is of 
no value, and that they will bring it, although there is also 
much more in the island of Espanola, which they call Bohio, 
and in the province of Caritaba. The king dined on board the 
caravel with the Admiral and afterwards went on shore, where 
he received the Admiral with much honor. He gave him a 
collation consisting of three or four kinds of ajes, with shrimps 
and game, and other viands they have, besides the bread 
they call cazavi? He then took the Admiral to see some groves 

* In reality Cibao was a part of Espanola. 

^ Made from the manioc roots or ajes. Cassava biscuit can be got to-day 
at fancy grocery stores. It is rather insipid. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 203 

of trees near the houses, and they were accompanied by at least 
a thousand people, all naked. The lord had on a shirt and a 
pair of gloves, given to him by the Admiral, and he was more 
delighted with the gloves than with anything else. In his 
manner of eating, both as regards the high-bred air and the 
peculiar cleanliness he clearly showed his nobility. After he 
had eaten, he remained some time at table, and they brought 
him certain herbs, with which he rubbed his hands. The Ad- 
miral thought that this was done to make them soft, and they 
also gave him water for his hands. After the meal he took the 
Admiral to the beach. The Admiral then sent for a Turkish 
bow and a quiver of arrows, and took a shot at a man of his 
company, who had been warned. The chief, who Imew noth- 
ing about arms, as they neither have them nor use them, 
thought this a wonderful thing. He, however, began to talk 
of those of Caniba, whom they call Caribes. They come to 
capture the natives, and have bows and arrows without iron, 
of which there is no memory in any of these lands, nor of steel, 
nor any other metal except gold and copper. Of copper the 
Admiral had only seen very little. The Admiral said, by signs, 
that the Sovereigns of Castile would order the Caribs to be 
destroyed, and that all should be taken with their hands tied 
together. He ordered a lombard and a hand-gun to be fired 
off, and seeing the effect caused by its force and what the shots 
penetrated, the king was astonished. When his people heard 
the explosion they all fell on the ground. They brought the 
Admiral a large mask, which had pieces of gold for the eyes and 
ears and in other parts, and this they gave, with other trinkets 
of gold that the same king had put on the head and round the 
neck of the Admiral, and of other Christians, to whom they 
also gave many pieces. The Admiral received much pleasure 
and consolation from these things, which tempered the anxiety 
and sorrow he felt at the loss of the ship. He knew our Lord 
had caused the ship to stop here, that a settlement might be 
formed. ''From this," he says, ''originated so many things 
that, in truth, the disaster was really a piece of good fortune. 
For it is certain that, if I had not lost the ship, I should have 



204 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1402 

gone on without anchoring in this place, which is within a great 
bay, having two or three reefs of rock. I should not have 
left people in the country during this voyage, nor even, if 
I had desired to leave them, should I have been able to obtain 
so much information, nor such supplies and provisions for a 
fortress. And true it is that many people had asked me to 
give them leave to remain. Now I have given orders for a 
tower and a fort, both well built, and a large cellar, not because 
I believe that such defences will be necessary. I believe that 
with the force I have with me I could subjugate the whole 
island, which I believe to be larger than Portugal, and the 
population double.^ But they are naked and without arms, 
and hopelessly timid. Still, it is advisable to build this tower, 
being so far from your Highnesses. The people may thus 
know the skill of the subjects of your Highnesses, and what they 
can do ; and will obey them with love and fear. So they make 
preparations to build the fortress, with provision of bread and 
wine for more than a year, with seeds for sowing, the ship's 
boat, a caulker and carpenter, a gunner and cooper. Many 
among these men have a great desire to serve your Highnesses 
and to please me, by finding out where the mine is whence the 
gold is brought. Thus everything is got in readiness to begin 
the work. Above all, it was so calm that there was scarcely 
wind or wave when the ship ran aground." This is what the 
Admiral says; and he adds more to show that it was great 
good luck, and the settled design of God, that the ship should 
be lost in order that people might be left behind. If it had not 
been for the treachery of the master and his boat's crew, who 
were all or mostly his countrymen,^ in neglecting to lay out the 
anchor so as to haul the ship off in obedience to the Admiral's 
orders, she would have been saved. In that case, the same 
knowledge of the land as has been gained in these days would 
not have been secured, for the Admiral always proceeded with 

* In reality, three-quarters the size of Portugal. 

' Juan de la Cosa, the master, was a native of Santona, on the north coast 
of Spain. There were two other Santona men on board, and several from 
the north coast. (Markham.) 



1492] JOUKNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 205 

the object of discovering, and never intended to stop more 
than a day at any one place, unless he was detained by the wind. 
Still, the ship was very heavy and unsuited for discovery. It 
was the people of Palos who obliged him to take such a ship, 
by not complying "with what they had promised to the King 
and Queen, namely, to supply suitable vessels for this expe- 
dition. This they did not do. Of all that there was on board 
the ship, not a needle, nor a board, nor a nail was lost, for she 
remained as whole as when she sailed, except that it was neces- 
sary to cut away and level down in order to get out the jars 
and merchandise, which were landed and carefully guarded." 
He trusted in God that, when he returned from Spain, accord- 
ing to his intention, he would find a tun of gold collected by 
barter by those he was to leave behind, and that they would 
have found the mine, and spices in such quantities that the 
Sovereigns would, in three years, be able to undertake and fit 
out an expedition to go and conquer the Holy Sepulchre. 
"With this in view," he says, ''I protested to your High- 
nesses that all the profits of this my enterprise should be 
spent in the conquest of Jerusalem, and your Highnesses 
laughed and said that it pleased them, and that, without this, 
they entertained that desire." These are the Admiral's words. 

Thursday, 27th of December 

The king of that land came alongside the caravel at sunrise, 
and said that he had sent for gold, and that he would collect 
all he could before the Admiral departed ; but he begged him 
not to go. The king and one of his brothers, with another 
very intimate relation, dined with the Admiral, and the two 
latter said they wished to go to Castile with him. At this 
time the news came that the caravel Pinta was in a river at 
the end of this island. Presently the cacique sent a canoe 
there, and the Admiral sent a sailor in it. For it was wonder- 
ful how devoted the cacique was to the Admiral. The ne- 
cessity was now evident of hurrying on preparations for the 
return to Castile. 



206 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 



Friday, 28th of December 



[1492 



The Admiral went on shore to give orders and hurry on the 
work of building the fort, and to settle what men should re- 
main behind/ The king, it would seem, had watched him 
getting into the boat, and quickly went into his house, dis- 
simulating, sending one of his brothers to receive the Admiral, 
and conduct him to one of the houses that had been set aside 
for the Spaniards, which was the largest and best in the town. 
In it there was a couch made of palm matting, where they sat 
down. Afterward the brother sent an attendant to say that 
the Admiral was there, as if the king did not know that he had 
come. The Admiral, however, believed that this was a feint 
in order to do him honor more. The attendant gave the mes- 
sage, and the cacique came in great haste, and put a large soft 
piece of gold he had in his hand round the Admiral's neck. 
They remained together until the evening, arranging what 
had to be done. 

Saturday, 29th of December 

A very youthful nephew of the king came to the caravel 
at sunrise, who showed a good understanding and disposition. 
As the Admiral was always working to find out the origin of 
the gold, he asked everyone, for he could now understand some- 
what by signs. This youth told him that, at a distance of 
four days' journey, there was an island to the eastward called 
Guarionex, and others called Macorix, Mayonic, Fuma, Cibao, 
and Coroay,' in which there was plenty of gold. The Admiral 

' "Be ordered then all his people to make great haste and the king 
ordered his vassals to help him and as an immense number joined with the 
Christians they managed so well and with such diligence that in a matter of 
ten days our stronghold was well made and as far as could be then constructed 
He named it the City of Christmas (Villa de la Navidad) because he had 
arrived there on that day, and so to-day that harbor is called Navidad, 
although there is no memory that there even has been a fort or any building 
there since it is overgrown with trees as large and tall as if fifty years had 
passed, and I have seen them." Las Casas, L 408. 

' These were not islands, but districts whose chiefs were called by the 
same names. Cf. Las Casas, L 410. 



1492] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 207 

wrote these names down, and now understood what had been 
said by a brother of the king, who was annoyed with him, as 
the Admiral miderstood. At other times the Admiral had 
suspected that the king had worked against his knowing 
where the gold had its origin and was collected, that he might 
not go away to barter in another part of the island. For there 
are such a number of places in this same island that it is wonder- 
ful. After nightfall the king sent a large mask of gold, and 
asked for a washhand basin and jug. The Admiral thought 
he wanted them for patterns to copy from, and therefore sent 
them. 

Sunday, SOth of December 

The Admiral went on shore to dinner, and came at a time 
when five kings had arrived, all with their crowns, who were 
subject to this king, named Guacanagari. They represented 
a very good state of affairs, and the Admiral says to the Sov- 
ereigns that it would have given them pleasure to see the man- 
ner of their arrival. On landing, the Admiral was received 
by the king, who led him by the arms to the same house where 
he was yesterday, where there were chairs, and a couch on 
which the Admiral sat. Presently the kmg took the crown 
off his head and put it on the Admiral's head, and the Admiral 
took from his neck a collar of beautiful beads of several differ- 
ent colors, which looked very well in all its parts, and put it 
on the king. He also took off a cloak of fine material, in which 
he had dressed himself that day, and dressed the king in 
it, and sent for some colored boots, which he put on his feet, 
and he put a large silver ring on his finger, because he had heard 
that he had admired greatly a silver ornament worn by one 
of the sailors. The king was highly delighted and well satis- 
fied, and two of those kings who were with him came with him 
to where the Admiral was, and each gave him a piece of gold. 
At this time an Indian came and reported that it was two days 
since he left the caravel Pinta in a port to the eastward. The 
Admiral returned to the caravel, and Vicente Anes,^ the cap- 

* For Yanez. Vicente Yanez Pinzon. 



208 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

tain, said that he had seen the rhubarb plant, and that they 
had it on the island Amiga, which is at the entrance of the sea 
of Santo Tome, six leagues off, and that he had recognized the 
branches and roots. They say that rhubarb forms small 
branches above ground, and fruit like green mulberries, al- 
most dry, and the stalk, near the root, is as yellow and delicate 
as the best color for painting, and underground the root grows 
like a large pear. 

Monday, ^Ist of December 

To-day the Admiral was occupied in seeing that water and 
fuel were taken on board for the voyage to Spain, to give early 
notice to the Sovereigns, that they might despatch ships to 
complete the discoveries. For now the business appeared to 
be so great and important that the Admiral was astonished.^ 
He did not wish to go until he had examined all the land to the 
eastward, and explored the coast, so as to know the route to 
Castile, with a view to sending sheep and cattle.^ But as he 
had been left with only a single vessel, it did not appear prudent 
to encounter the dangers that are inevitable in making dis- 
coveries. He complained that all this inconvenience had been 
caused by the caravel Pinta having parted company. 



Tuesday, 1st of January, 1493 

At midnight the Admiral sent a boat to the island Amiga 
to bring the rhubarb. It returned at vespers with a bundle of 
it. They did not bring more because they had no spade to 
dig it up with; it was taken to be shown to the Sovereigns. 
The king of that land said that he had sent many canoes for 
gold. The canoe returned that had been sent for tidings of 
the Pinta, without having found her. The sailor who went in 

' Rather, "For now the business appeared to be so great and important 
that it was wonderful (said the Admiral) and he said he did not wish," etc. 
^ The first suggestion of systematic colonization in the New World. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 209 

the canoe said that twenty leagues from there he had seen a 
king who wore two large plates of gold on his head, but when 
the Indians in the canoe spoke to him he took them off. He 
also saw much gold on other people. The Admiral considered 
that the King Guacanagari ought to have prohibited his people 
from selling gold to the Christians, in order that it might all 
pass through his hands. But the king knew the places, as 
before stated, where there was such a quantity that it was not 
valued. The supply of spices also is extensive, and is worth 
more than pepper or manegueta.^ He left instructions to those 
who wished to remain that they were to collect as much as 
they could. 

Wednesday, 2nd of January 

In the morning the Admiral went on shore to take leave of 
the King Guacanagari, and to depart from him in the name 
of the Lord. He gave him one of his shirts. In order to show 
him the force of the lombards, and what effect they had, he 
ordered one to be loaded and fired into the side of the ship 
that was on shore, for this was apposite to the conversation 
respecting the Caribs, with whom Guacanagari was at war. 
The king saw whence the lombard-shot came, and how it 
passed through the side of the ship and went far away over the 
sea. The Admiral also ordered a skirmish of the crews of the 
ships, fully armed, saying to the cacique that he need have 
no fear of the Caribs even if they should come. All this was 
done that the king might look upon the men who were left 
behind as friends, and that he might also have a proper fear 
of them. The king took the Admiral to dinner at the house 
where he was established, and the others who came with him. 
The Admiral strongly recommended to his friendship Diego 
de Arana, Pedro Gutierrez, and Rodrigo Escovedo, whom he 
left jointly as his lieutenants over the people who remained 
behind, that all might be well regulated and governed for 
the service of their Highnesses. The cacique showed much 

^ See note 2 under Jan. 9, p. 218. 



210 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

love for the Admiral, and great sorrow at his departure, espe- 
cially when he saw him go on board. A relation of that king 
said to the Admiral that he had ordered a statue of pure gold 
to be made, as big as the Admiral, and that it would be brought 
within ten days. The Admiral embarked with the intention 
of sailing presently, but there was no wind. 

He left on that island of Espanola, which the Indians called 
Bohio, 39 men ^ with the fortress, and he says that they were 
great friends of Guacanagari. The lieutenants placed over 
them were Diego de Arana of Cordova, Pedro Gutierrez, 
keeper of the king's drawing-room, and servant of the chief 
butler, and Rodrigo de Escovedo, a native of Segovia, nephew 
of Fray Rodrigo Perez, with all the powers he himself received 
from the Sovereigns. He left behind all the merchandise 
which had been provided for bartering, which was much, that 
they might trade for gold. He also left the ship's boat, that 
they, most of them being sailors, might go, when the time 
seemed convenient, to discover the gold mine, in order that 
the Admiral, on his return, might find much gold. They were 
also to find a good site for a town, for this was not altogether 
a desirable port ; especially as the gold the natives brought 
came from the east ; also, the farther to the east the nearer 
to Spain. He also left seeds for sowing, and his officers, the 
alguazil and secretary, as well as a ship's carpenter, a caulker, 
a good gunner familiar with engineering {que sabe Men de in- 
genios), a cooper, a physician, and a tailor, all being seamen 
as well.^ 

Thursday, Srd of January 

The Admiral did not go to-day, because three of the Indians 
whom he had brought from the islands, and who had staid 
behind, arrived, and said that the others with their women 

* The actual number was 44, according to the official list given in a 
document printed by Navarrete, which is a notice to the next of kin to apply 
for wages due, dated Burgos, December 20, 1507. Markham reproduces this 
list in his edition of Columbus's Journal. 

^ Las Casas gives the farewell speech of the Admiral to those who were 
left behind at Navidad, I. 415. It is translated in Thacher's Columbus, 
I. 632. 



J 



U93] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 211 

would be there at sunrise.^ The sea also was rather rough, 
so that they could not land from the boat. He determined 
to depart to-morrow, with the grace of God. The Admiral 
said that if he had the caravel Pinta with him he could make 
sure of shipping a tun of gold, because he could then follow 
the coasts of these islands, which he would not do alone, for 
fear some accident might impede his return to Castile, and 
prevent him from reporting all he had discovered to the Sov- 
ereigns. If it was certain that the caravel Pinta would arrive 
safely in Spain with Martin Alonso Pinzon, he would not hesi- 
tate to act as he desired ; but as he had no certain tidings of 
him, and as he might return and tell lies to the Sovereigns, that 
he might not receive the punishment he deserved for having 
done so much harm in having parted company without per- 
mission, and impeded the good service that might have been 
done, the Admiral could only trust in our Lord that he would 
grant favorable weather, and remedy all things. 

Friday, 4:th of January 

At sunrise the Admiral weighed the anchor, with little wind, 
and turned her head N.W. to get clear of the reef, by another 
channel wider than the one by which he entered, which, with 
others, is very good for coming in front of the Villa de la Navi- 
dad, in all which the least depth is from 3 to 9 fathoms. These 
two channels run N.W. and S.E., and the reefs are long, 
extending from the Cabo Santo to the Cabo de Sierpe for more 
thaQ six leagues, and then a good three leagues out to sea. 
At a league outside Cabo Santo there are not more than 8 
fathoms of depth, and inside that cape, on the east side, there 
are many sunken rocks, and channels to enter between them. 
All this coast trends N.W. and S.E., and it is all beach, with 
the land very level for about a quarter of a league inland. 

^ "It is not known how many he took from this island but I believe he 
took some, and altogether he carried ten or twelve Indians to Castile accord- 
ing to the Portuguese History [Barros] and I saw them in Seville yet I did 
not notice nor do I recollect that I counted them." Las Casas, I. 419. 



212 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

After that distance there are very high mountains, and the 
whole is peopled with a very good race, as they showed them- 
selves to the Christians. Thus the Admiral navigated to the 
east, shaping a course for a very high mountain, which looked 
like an island, but is not one, being joined to the mainland by 
a very low neck. The mountain has the shape of a very beau- 
tiful tent. He gave it the name of Monte Cristi. It is due east 
of Cabo Santo, at a distance of 18 leagues.^ That day, owing 
to the light wind, they could not reach within six leagues of 
Monte Cristi. He discovered four very low and sandy islets,^ 
with a reef extending N.W. and S.E. Inside, there is a large 
gulf,^ which extends from this mountain to the S.E. at least 
twenty leagues,'* which must all be shallow, with many sand- 
banks, and inside numerous rivers which are not navigable. 
At the same time the sailor who was sent in the canoe to get 
tidings of the Pinta reported that he saw a river ^ into which 
ships might enter. The Admiral anchored at a distance of 6 
leagues ^ from Monte Cristi, in 19 fathoms, and so kept clear 
of many rocks and reefs. Here he remained for the night. 
The Admiral gives notice to those who would go to the Villa 
de la Navidad that, to make Monte Cristi, he should stand off 
the land two leagues, etc. (But as the coast is now known 
it is not given here.) The Admiral concluded that Cipango 
was in that island, and that it contained much gold, spices, 
mastic, and rhubarb. 



Saturday, 5th of January 

At sunrise the Admiral made sail with the land-breeze, 
and saw that to the S.S.E.' of Monte Cristi, between it and an 

* It is N. 80° E. 70 leagues. (Navarrete.) 
^ Los siete Hermanos. (Id.) 

^ Bahia de Manzanillo. (Id.) 

* Should be S.W. three leagues. 

' Rio Tapion, in the Bahia de Manzanillo. (Id.) 
' A mistake for three leagues. (Id.) 
' Should be W.S.W. (Id.) 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 213 

island, there seemed to be a good port to anchor in that night. 
He shaped an E.S.E. course, afterward S.S.E., for six leagues 
round the high land, and found a depth of 17 fathoms, with a 
very clean bottom, going on for three leagues with the same 
soundings. Afterwards it shallowed to 12 fathoms up to the 
promontory of the mountain, and off the promontory, at one 
league, the depth of 9 fathoms was found, the bottom clean, 
and all fine sand. The Admiral followed the same course until 
he came between the mountain and the island,^ where he found 
3J fathoms at low water, a very good port, and here he anchored.^ 
He went in the boat to the islet, where he found remains of 
fire and footmarks, showing that fishermen had been there. 
Here they saw many stones painted in colors, or a quarry of 
such stones, very beautifully worked by nature, suited for 
the building of a church or other public work, like those he 
found on the island of San Salvador. On this islet he also 
found many plants of mastic. He says that this Monte 
Cristi is very fine and high, but accessible, and of a very beau- 
tiful shape, all the land round it being low, a very fine plain, 
from which the height rises, looking at a distance like an island 
disunited from other land. Beyond the mountain, to the east, 
he saw a cape at a distance of 24 miles, which he named Cabo 
del Becerro,^ whence to the mountain for two leagues there are 
reefs of rocks, though it appeared as if there were navigable 
channels between them. It would, however, be advisable to 
approach in daylight, and to send a boat ahead to sound. 
From the mountain eastward to Cabo del Becerro, for four 
leagues, there is a beach, and the land is low, but the rest is 
very high, with beautiful mountains and some cultivation. 
Inland, a chain of mountains runs N.E. and S.W., the most 
beautiful he had seen, appearing like the hills of Cordova. 
Some other very lofty mountains appear in the distance toward 
the south and S.E., and very extensive green valleys with 
large rivers : all this in such quantity that he did not believe 

* Isla Cabra. (Navarrete.) 

^ Anchorage of Monte Cristi. (Id.) 

^ Punta Rucia. ( Id.) 



214 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

he had exaggerated a thousandth part. Afterwards he saw, 
to the eastward of the mountain, a land which appeared hke 
that of Monte Cristi in size and beauty. Further to the east 
and N.E. there is land which is not so high, extending for some 
hundred miles or near it. 



Sunday, Qth of January 

That port is sheltered from all winds, except north and 
N.W., and these winds seldom blow in this region. Even 
when the wind is from those quarters, shelter may be found 
near the islet in 3 or 4 fathoms. At sunrise the Admiral made 
sail to proceed along the coast, the course being east, except 
that it is necessary to look out for several reefs of stone and 
sand, within which there are good anchorages, with channels 
leading to them. After noon it blew fresh from the east. 
The Admiral ordered a sailor to go to the mast-head to look 
out for reefs, and he saw the caravel Pinta coming, with the 
wind aft, and she joined the Admiral.^ As there was no place 
to anchor, owing to the rocky bottom, the Admiral returned 
for ten leagues to Monte Cristi, with the Pinta in company. 
Martin Alonso Pinzon came on board the caravel Nina, where 
the Admiral was, and excused himself by saying that he had 
parted company against his will, giving reasons for it. But 
the Admiral says that they were all false; and that on the 
night when Pinzon parted company he was influenced by pride 
and covetousness. He could not understand whence had 
come the insolence and disloyalty with which Pinzon had 
treated him during the voyage. The Admiral had taken no 
notice, because he did not wish to give place to the evil works 
of Satan, who desired to impede the voyage. It appeared that 
one of the Indians, who had been put on board the caravel by 
the Admiral with others, had said that there was much gold 
in an island called Baneque, and, as Pinzon 's vessel was light 
and swift, he determined to go there, parting company with 

* Martin Alonso Pinzon had slipped away during the night of November 21. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 215 

the Admiral, who wished to remain and explore the coasts of 
Juana and Espanola, with an easterly course. When Martin 
Alonso arrived at the island of Baneque ^ he found no gold. 
He then went to the coast of Espanola, on information from 
the Indians that there was a great quantity of gold and many 
mines in that island of Espanola, which the Indians call Bohio. 
He thus arrived near the Villa de Navidad, about 15 leagues 
from it, having then been absent more than twenty days, so 
that the news brought by the Indians was correct, on account 
of which the King Guacanagari sent a canoe, and the Admiral 
put a sailor on board; but the Pinta must have gone before 
the canoe arrived. The Admiral says that the Pinta obtained 
much gold by barter, receiving large pieces the size of two 
fingers in exchange for a needle. Martin Alonso took half, 
dividing the other half among the crew. The Admiral then 
says:' ''Thus I am convinced that our Lord miraculously 
caused that vessel to remain here, this being the best place in 
the whole island to form a settlement, and the nearest to the 
gold mines." He also says that he knew of another great 
island, to the south of the island of Juana, in which there is 
more gold than in this island, so that they collect it in bits the 
size of beans, while in Espanola they find the pieces the size 
of grains of wheat. They call that island Yamaye.^ The 
Admiral also heard of an island further east, in which there were 
only women, having been told this by many people.^ He was 
also informed that Yamaye and the island of Espaiiola were 
ten days' journey in a canoe from the mainland, which would 
be about 70 or 80 leagues, and that there the people wore 
clothes.* 



* Here probably the island of Iguana Grande. 
^ Jamaica. 

^ On this myth see below under January 15. 

* It is remarkable that this report, which refers probably to Yucatan and 
to the relatively high state of culture of the Mayas, drew no further comment 
from Columbus. From our point of view it ought to have made a much 
greater impression than we have evidence that it did ; from his point of view 
that he was off Asia it was just what was to be expected and so is recorded 
without comment. 



216 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

Monday, 7th of January 

This day the Admiral took the opportunity of calking the 
caravel, and the sailors were sent to cut wood. They found 
mastic and aloes in abundance. 



Tuesday, Sth of January 

As the wind was blowing fresh from the east and S.E., 
the Admiral did not get under way this morning. He or- 
dered the caravel to be filled up with wood and water and with 
all other necessaries for the voyage. He wished to explore 
all the coast of Espanola in this direction. But those he 
appointed to the caravels as captains were brothers, namely, 
Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Anes. They also had fol- 
lowers who were filled with pride and avarice, considermg 
that all now belonged to them, and unmindful of the honor 
the Admiral had done them. They had not and did not obey 
his orders, but did and said many unworthy things against him ; 
while Martin Alonso had deserted him from the 21st of Novem- 
ber until the 6th of January without cause or reason, but 
from disaffection. All these things had been endured in si- 
lence by the Admiral in order to secure a good end to the voy- 
age. He determined to return as quickly as possible, to get 
rid of such an evil company, with whom he thought it neces- 
sary to dissimulate, although they were a mutinous set, and 
though he also had with him many good men ; for it was not 
a fitting time for dealing out punishment. 

The Admiral got into the boat and went up the river * 
which is near, toward the S.S.W. of Monte Cristi, a good 
league. This is where the sailors went to get fresh water for 
the ships. He found that the sand at the mouth of the river, 
which is very large and deep, was full of very fine gold, and in 
astonishing quantity. The Admiral thought that it was pul- 

* This is the large river Yaqui,which contains much gold in its sand. It 
was afterwards called the Santiago. (Navarrete.) 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 217 

verized in the drift down the river, but in a short time he found 
many grains as large as lentils, while there was a great deal of 
the fine powder. 

As the fresh water mixed with the salt when it entered the 
sea, he ordered the boat to go up for the distance of a stone's- 
throw. They filled the casks from the boat, and when they 
went back to the caravel they found small bits of gold stick- 
ing to the hoops of the casks and of the barrel. The Admiral 
gave the name of Rio del Oro to the river. ^ Inside the bar it 
is very deep, though the mouth is shallow and very wide. 
The distance to the Villa de la Navidad is 17 leagues,^ and there 
are several large rivers on the intervening coast, especially 
three which probably contain much more gold than this one, 
because they are larger. This river is nearly the size of the 
Guadalquivir at Cordova, and from it to the gold mines the 
distance is not more than 20 leagues.^ The Admiral further 
says that he did not care to take the sand coataining gold, 
because their Highnesses would have it all as their property 
at their town of Navidad ; and because his first object was now 
to bring the news and to get rid of the evil company that was 
with him, whom he had always said were a mutinous set. 



Wednesday, 9th of January 

The Admiral made sail at midnight, with the wind S.E., 
and shaped an E.N.E. course, arriving at a point named 
Punta Roja,"* which is 60 miles ^ east of Monte Cristi, and an- 
chored under its lee three hours before nightfall. He did not 
venture to go out at night, because there are many reefs, until 
they are known. Afterwards, if, as will probably be the case, 
channels are found between them, the anchorage, which is 

* Afterwards called the Rio de Santiago. (Navarrete.) 
^ This should be 8 leagues. (Id.) 

^ Las Casas, I. 429, says the distance to the mines was not 4 leagues. 

* Punta Isabelica. (Id.) 

^ The distance is 10^ leagues, or 42 of the Italian miles used by Columbus. 
(Id.) 



218 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

good and well sheltered, will be profitable. The country be- 
tween Monte Cristi and this point where the Admiral anchored 
is very high land, with beautiful plains, the range running east 
and west, all green and cultivated, with numerous streams of 
water, so that it is wonderful to see such beauty. In all this 
country there are many turtles, and the sailors took several 
when they came on shore to lay their eggs at Monte Cristi, 
as large as a great wooden buckler. 

On the previous day, when the Admiral went to the Rio 
del Oro, he saw three mermaids,^ which rose well out of the sea ; 
but they are not so beautiful as they are painted, though to 
some extent they have the form of a human face. The Ad- 
miral says that he had seen some, at other times, in Guinea, 
on the coast of the Manequeta.^ 

The Admiral says that this night, in the name of our Lord, 
he would set out on his homeward voyage without any further 
delay whatever, for he had found what he sought, and he did 
not wish to have further cause of offence with Martin Alonso 
until their Higlinesses should know the news of the voyage 
and what had been done. Afterwards he says, ''I will not 
suffer the deeds of evil-disposed persons, with little worth, 
who, without respect for him to whom they owe their posi- 
tions, presume to set up their own wills with little ceremony." 

^ The mermaids [Spanish, "sirens"] of Columbus are the manatis, or 
sea-cows, of the Caribbean Sea and great South American rivers. Tliey are 
now scarcely ever seen out at sea. Their resemblance to human beings, 
when rising in the water, must have been very striking. They have small 
rounded heads, and cervical vertebrae which form a neck, enabling the 
animal to turn its head about. The fore limbs also, instead of being pectoral 
fins, have the character of the arm and hand of the higher mammalia. These 
pecuharities, and their very human way of suckling their young, holding 
it by the forearm, which is movable at the elbow-joint, suggested the idea 
of mermaids. The congener of the manati, which had been seen by Colum- 
bus on the coast of Guinea, is the dugong. (Markham.) 

^ Las Casas has "on the coast of Guinea where manequeta is gathered " 
(I. 430). Amomum Melequeta, an herbaceous, reedlike plant, three to 
five feet high, is found along the coast of Africa, from Sierra Leone to the 
Congo. Its seeds were called "Grains of Paradise," or maniguetta, and the 
coast alluded to by Columbus, between Liberia and Cape Palmas, was hence 
called the Grain Coast. The grains were used as a condiment, like pepper, 
and in making the spiced wine called hippocras. (Markham.) 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 219 

Thursday, 10th of January 

He departed from the place where he had anchored, and 
at sunset he reached a river, to which he gave the name of 
Rio de Gracia, three leagues to the S.E. He came to at the 
mouth, ^ where there is good anchorage on the east side. There 
is a bar with no more than two fathoms of water, and very 
narrow across the entrance. It is a good and well-sheltered 
port, except that there are many shipworms,^ owing to which 
the caravel Pinta, under Martin Alonso, received a good deal 
of damage. He had been here bartering for 16 days, and got 
much gold, which was what Martin Alonso wanted. As soon 
as he heard from the Indians that the Admiral was on the 
coast of the same island of Espanola, and that he could not 
avoid him, Pinzon came to him. He wanted all the people 
of the ship to swear that he had not been there more than six 
days. But his treachery was so public that it could not be 
concealed. He had made a law that half of all the gold that 
was collected was his. When he left this port he took four 
men and two girls by force. But the Admiral ordered that 
they should be clothed and put on shore to return to their 
homes. ''This," the Admiral says, ''is a service of your 
Highnesses. For all the men and women are subjects of your 
Highnesses, as well in this island as in the others. Here, 
where your Highnesses already have a settlement, the people 
ought to be treated with honor and favor, seeing that this 
island has so much gold and such good spice-yielding lands." 

Friday, 11th of January 

At midnight the Admiral left the Rio de Gracia with the 
land-breeze, and steered eastward until he came to a cape 

* Rio Chuzona chica. (Navarrete.) 

^ Reading hroma ("shipworm") for bruma ("mist") in the sentence : 
sino que tiene mucha bruma. De la Roquette in the French translation 
gives bruma the meaning of "shipworm," supposing it to be a variant 
form of broma. The Italian translator of the letter on the fourth voyage 
took broma to be bruma, translated it pruina e bruma, and consequently 
had Columbus's ship injured by frost near Panama in April ! Cf. Thacher, 
Christopher Columbus, II. 625, 790. 



220 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

named Belprado, at a distance of four leagues. To the S.E. 
is the mountaia to which he gave the name of Monte de Plata/ 
eight leagues distant. Thence from the cape Belprado to 
E.S.E. is the point named Angel, eighteen leagues distant; 
and from this point to the Monte de Plata there is a gulf, 
with the most beautiful lands in the world, all high and fine 
lands which extend far inland. Beyond there is a range of 
high mountains running east and west, very grand and beauti- 
ful. At the foot of this mountain there is a very good port,^ 
with 14 fathoms in the entrance. The mountain is very 
high and beautiful, and all the country is well peopled. The 
Admiral believed there must be fine rivers and much gold. 
At a distance of 4 leagues E.S.E. of Cabo del Angel there is a 
cape named Punta del Hierro,^ and on the same course, 4 
more leagues, a point is reached named Punta Seca.* Thence, 
6 leagues further on, is Cabo Redondo,^ and further on Cabo 
Frances, where a large bay ^ is formed, but there did not 
appear to be anchorage in it. A league further on is Cabo del 
Buen Tiempo, and thence, a good league S.S.E., is Cabo 
Taj ado.' Thence, to the south, another cape was sighted at a 
distance of about 15 leagues. To-day great progress was made, 
as wind and tide were favorable. The Admiral did not venture 
to anchor for fear of the rocks, so he was hove- to all night. 

Saturday, 12th of January 

Towards dawn the Admiral filled and shaped a course to 
the east with a fresh wind, running 20 miles before daylight, 

' So called because the summit is always covered with white or silver 
clouds. Las Casas, I. 432. A monastery of Dominicans was afterwards 
built on Monte de Plata, in which Las Casas began to write his history of the 
Indies in the year 1527. Las Casas, IV. 254. (Markham.) 

^ Puerto de Plata, where a flourishing seaport town was afterwards 
established; founded by Ovando in 1502. It had fallen to decay in 1606. 
(Markham.) 

^ Punta Macuris. The distance is 3, not 4 leagues. (Navarrete.) 

* Punta Sesua. The distance is only one league. (Id.) 

" Cabo de la Roca. It should be 5, not 6 leagues. (Id.) 

' Bahia Escocesa. (Id.) 

' Las Casas says that none of these names remained even in his time. 
I. 432. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 221 

and in two hours afterwards 24 miles. Thence he saw land 
to the south/ and steered towards it, distant 48 miles. During 
the night he must have run 28 miles N.N.E., to keep the vessels 
out of danger. When he saw the land, he named one cape 
that he saw Cabo de Padre y Hijo, because at the east point 
.there are two rocks, one larger than the other.^ Afterwards, 
at two leagues to the eastward, he saw a very fine bay between 
two grand mountains. He saw that it was a very large port 
with a very good approach; but, as it was very early in the 
morning, and as the greater part of the time it was blowing 
from the east, and then they had a N.N.W. breeze, he did not 
wish to delay any more. He continued his course to the 
east as far as a very high and beautiful cape, all of scarped 
rock, to which he gave the name of Cabo del Enamorado,^ 
which was 32 miles to the east of the port named Puerto Sacro.'* 
On rounding the cape, another finer and loftier point came in 
sight,^ like Cape St. Vincent in Portugal, 12 miles east of Cabo 
del Enamorado. As soon as he was abreast of the Cabo del 
Enamorado, the Admiral saw that there was a great bay^ 
between this and the next point, three leagues across, and in 
the middle of it a small island.^ The depth is great at the 
entrance close to the land. He anchored here in twelve fath- 
oms, and sent the boat on shore for water, and to see if inter- 
course could be opened with the natives, but they all fled. 
He also anchored to ascertain whether this was all one laQd 
with the island of Espaiiola, and to make sure that this was a 
gulf and not a channel, forming another island. He remained 
astonished at the great size of Espanola. 

* This was the Peninsula of Samana. (Navarrete.) 
^ Isla Yazual. (Id.) 

I ^ Cabo Cabron, or Lover's Cape ; the extreme N.E. point of the island, 
rising nearly 2000 feet above the sea. (Markham.) 

* Puerto Yaqueron. (Navarrete.) 

^ Cabo Samana ; called Cabo de San Theramo afterwards by Columbus. 
! (Markham.) 

* The Bay of Samana. (Navarrete.) 
I ^ Cayo de Levantados. {Id.) 



222 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

Sunday, 13th of January 

The Admiral did not leave the port, because there was no 
land-breeze with which to go out. He wished to shift to 
another better port, because this was rather exposed. He 
also wanted to wait, in that haven, the conjunction of the sun 
and moon, which would take place on the 17th of this month, 
and the opposition of the moon with Jupiter and conjunction 
with Mercury, the sun being in opposition to Jupiter, which is 
the cause of high winds. He sent the boat on shore to a beau- 
tiful beach to obtain yams for food. They found some men 
with bows and arrows, with whom they stopped to speak, 
buying two bows and many arrows from them. They asked 
one of them to come on board the caravel and see the Admiral ; 
who says that he was very wanting in reverence, more so than 
any native he had yet seen.^ His face was all stained with 
charcoal,^ but in all parts there is the custom of painting the 
body different colors. He wore his hair very long, brought 
together and fastened behind, and put into a small net of 
parrots' feathers. He was naked, hke all the others. The 
Admiral supposed that he belonged to the Caribs, who eat 
men,^ and that the gulf he had seen yesterday formed this part 
of the land into an island by itself. The Admiral asked about 
the Caribs, and he pointed to the east, near at hand, which 
means that he saw the Admiral yesterday before he entered 
the bay. The Indian said there was much gold to the east, 
pointing to the poop of the caravel, which was a good size, 
meaning that there were pieces as large. He called gold tuob, 
and did not understand caona, as they call it in the first part 
of the island that was visited, nor nozay, the name in San 
Salvador and the other islands. Copper or a base gold is 



1 This should be, "who says that he was very ugly of countenance, 
more so than the others that he had seen." 

' Las Casas says, I. 433, " Not charcoal but a certain dye they make 
from a certain fruit." 

^ Las Casas, I. 434, says there never were any cannibals in Espanola. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 223 

called tuoh in Espanola/ Of the island of Matinino this 
Indian said that it was peopled by women without men,^ and 
that in it there was much tuoh, which is gold or copper, and 
that it is more to the east of Carib.^ He also spoke of the 
island of Goanin/ where there was much tuob. The Admiral 
says that he had received notices of these islands from many 
persons; that in the other islands the natives were in great 
fear of the Caribs, called by some of them Caniba, but in Es- 
paSola Carib. He thought they must be an audacious race, 
for they go to all these islands and eat the people they can 
capture. He understood a few words, and the Indians who 
were on board comprehended more, there being a difference 
in the languages owing to the great distance between the 
various islands. The Admiral ordered that the Indian should 
be fed, and given pieces of green and red cloth, and glass beads, 
which they like very much, and then sent on shore. He was 
told to bring gold if he had any, and it was believed that he 
had, from some small things he brought with him. When the 
boat reached the shore there were fifty-five men behind the 
trees, naked, and with very long hair, as the women wear it 
in Castile. Behind the head they wore plumes of feathers 
of parrots and other birds, and each man carried a bow. The 
Indian landed, and signed to the others to put down their 
bows and arrows, and a piece of a staff, which is hke . . .,^ 

* Las Casas, I. 434, says that a section in the northeastern part 
of Espanola "was inhabited by a tribe which called themselves Mazariges 
and others Ciguayos and that they spoke different languages from the 
rest of the island. I do not remember if they differed from each other 
in speech since so many years have passed, and to-day there is no one 
to inquire of, although I have talked many times with both genera- 
tions; but more than fifty years have gone by." The Ciguayos, he adds, 
were called so because they wore their hair long as women do in Cas- 
tile. This passage shows that Las Casas was writing this part of his 
history a half-century after he went first to Espanola, which was in 1502, 
with Ovando. 

* See p. 226, note 4, under Jan. 15. 
^ Porto Rico. (Navarrete.) 

* Las Casas, I. 434, says that Guanin was not the name of an island, but 
the word for a kind of base gold. 

^ A gap in the original manuscript. 



224 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

very heavy, carried instead of a sword/ As soon as they came 
to the boat the crew landed, and began to buy the bows and 
arrows and other arms, in accordance with an order of the 
Admiral. Having sold two bows, they did not want to give 
more, but began to attack the Spaniards, and to take hold of 
them. They were running back to pick up their bows and 
arrows where they had laid them aside, and took cords hi 
their hands to bind the boat's crew. Seeing them rushing 
down, and being prepared — for the Admiral always warned 
them to be on their guard — the Spaniards attacked the 
Indians, and gave one a slash with a knife in the buttocks, 
wounding another in the breast with an arrow. Seeing that 
they could gain little, although the Christians were only seven 
and they numbered over fifty, they fled, so that none were 
left, throwing bows and arrows away.^ The Christians 
would have killed many, if the pilot, who was in command, 
had not prevented them. The Spaniards presently returned 
to the caravel with the boat. The Admiral regretted the affair 
for one reason, and was pleased for another. They would 
have fear of the Christians, and they were no doubt an ill- 
conditioned people, probably Caribs, who eat men. But the 
Admiral felt alarm lest they should do some harm to the 39 
men left in the fortress and town of Navidad, in the event 
of their coming here in their boat. Even if they are not 
Caribs, they are a neighboring people, with similar habits, 
and fearless, unlike the other inhabitants of the island, who are 
timid, and without arms. The Admiral says all this, and adds 
that he would have liked to have captured some of them. 
He says that they lighted many smoke signals, as is the custom 
in this island of Espanola. 

* Las Casas, I. 435, has, "and as word of a palm-tree board which is very 
hard and very heavy, not sharp but blunt, about two fingers thick every- 
where, with which as it is hard and heavy like iron, although a man has a 
helmet on his head they will crush his skull to the brain with one blow." 

^ "This was the first fight that there was in all the Indies and when 
the blood of the Indians was shed." Las Casas, I. 436. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 225 

Monday, lith of January 

This evening the Admiral wished to find the houses of the 
Indians and to capture some of them, beheving them to be 
Caribs. For, owing to the strong east and north-east winds 
and the heavy sea, he had remained during the day. Many 
Indians were seen on shore. The Admiral, therefore, ordered 
the boat to be sent on shore, with the crew well armed. Pres- 
ently the Indians came to the stern of the boat, including the 
man who had been on board the day before, and had received 
presents from the Admiral. With him there came a king, 
who had given to the said Indian some beads in token of safety 
and peace for the boat's crew. This king, with three of his 
followers, went on board the boat and came to the caravel. 
The Admiral ordered them to be given biscuit and treacle 
to eat, and gave the chief a red cap, some beads, and a piece 
of red cloth. The others were also given pieces of cloth. The 
chief said that next day he would bring a mask made of gold, 
affirming that there was much here, and in Carib ^ and Mati- 
nino.^ They afterwards went on shore well satisfied. 

The Admiral here says that the caravels were making much 
water, which entered by the keel; and he complains of the 
caulkers at Palos, who caulked the vessels very badly, and ran 
away when they saw that the Admiral had detected the bad- 
ness of their work, and intended to obhge them to repair the 
defect. But, notwithstanding that the caravels were making 
much water, he trusted in the favor and mercy of our Lord, 
for his high Majesty well knew how much controversy there 
was before the expedition could be despatched from Castile, 
that no one was in the Admiral's favor save Him alone who 
knew his heart, and after God came your Highnesses, while 
all others were against him without any reason. He further 
says: '^And this has been the cause that the royal crown of 
your Highnesses has not a hundred milhons of revenue more 

• ' Porto Rico. Navarrete says it is certain that the Indians called 
Porto Rico Isla de Carib. 

^ Probably Martinique or Guadeloupe. (Navarrete.) 
Q 



226 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

than after I entered your service, which is seven years ago in 
this very month, the 20th of January/ The increase will take 
place from now onwards. For the almighty God will remedy 
all things." ^ These are his words. 



Tuesday, 15th of January 

The Admiral now wished to depart, for there was nothing 
to be gained by further delay, after these occurrences and the 
tumult with the Indians. To-day he had heard that all the 
gold was in the district of the town of Navidad, belonging to 
their Highnesses ; and that in the island of Carib ^ there was 
much copper, as well as in Matinino. The intercourse at Carib 
would, however, be difficult, because the natives are said to 
eat human flesh. Their island would be in sight from thence, 
and the Admiral determined to go there, as it was on the route, 
and thence to Matinino, which was said to be entirely peopled 
by women, without men.^ He would thus see both islands, and 

^ By this calculation the Admiral entered the service of the Catholic 
Sovereigns on January 20, 1486. (Navarrete.) 

* "What would he have said if he had seen the millions and millions 
(cuentos y millones) that the sovereigns have received from his labors since 
his death?" Las Casas, I. 437. 

' Porto Rico. 

* Columbus had read in Marco Polo of the islands of Masculia and Femi- 
NiNA in the Lidian Seas and noted the passage in his copy. See ch. xxxiii. 
of pt. III. of Marco Polo. On the other hand there is evidence for an in- 
digenous Amazon myth in the New World. The earliest sketch of Ameri- 
can folk-lore ever made, that of the Friar Ramon Pane in 1497, preserved 
in Ferdinand Columbus's Historie and in a condensed form in Peter 
Martyr's De Rebus Oceanicis (Dec. i., lib. ix.), tells the story of the culture- 
hero Guagugiona, who set forth from the cave, up to that time the home of 
mankind, " with all the women in search of other lands and he came to 
Matinino, where at once he left the women and went away to another coun- 
try," etc., Historie (London ed., 1867), p. 188. Ramon's name is errone- 
ously given as Roman in the Historie. On the Amazons in Venezuela, see 
Oviedo, lib. xxv., cap. xiv. It may be accepted that the Amazon myth 
as given by Oviedo, from which the great river derived its name, River of 
the Amazons, is a composite of an Arawak folk-tale like that preserved by 
Ramon Pane overlaid with the details of the Marco Polo myth, which in 
turn derives from the classical myth- 



1493] JOUENAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 227 

might take some of the natives. The Admiral sent the boat 
on shore, but the king of that district had not come, for his 
village was distant. He, however, sent his crown of gold, as 
he had promised ; and many other natives came with cotton, 
and bread made from yams, all with their bows and arrows. 
After the bartering was finished, four youths came to the cara- 
vel. They appeared to the Admiral to give such a clear ac- 
count of the islands to the eastward, on the same route as 
the Admiral would have to take, that he determined to take 
them to Castile with him. He says that they had no iron nor 
other metals ; at least none was seen, but it was impossible to 
know much of the land in so short a time, owing to the diffi- 
culty with the language, which the Admiral could not under- 
stand except by guessing, nor could they know what was said to 
them, in such a few days. The bows of these people are as 
large as those of France or England. The arrows are similar 
to the darts of the natives who have been met with previously, 
which are made of young canes, which grow very straight, and 
a yard and a half or two yards in length. They point them 
with a piece of sharp wood, a span and a half long, and at the 
end some of them fix a fish's tooth, but most of them anoint 
it with an herb.^ They do not shoot as in other parts, but in a 
certain way which cannot do much harm. Here they have a 
great deal of fine and long cotton, and plenty of mastic. 
The bows appeared to be of yew, and there is gold and copper. 
There is also plenty of a/i,^ which is their pepper, which is 
more valuable than pepper, and all the people eat nothing 
else, it being very wholesome. Fifty caravels might be an- 
nually loaded with it from Espanola. The Admiral says that 
he found a great deal of weed in this bay, the same as was met 
with at sea when he came on this discovery. He therefore 

' Y los mas le ponen alii yerba, " and the most of them put on poi- 
son." The description of these arrows corresponds exactly with that 
given by Sir E. im Thurn of the poisoned arrows of the Indians of Guiana, 
which still have " adjustable wooden tips smeared with poison, which are 
inserted in the socket at the end of a reed shaft." Among the Indians of 
Guiana, p. 242. 

^ Capsicum. (Markham.) 



228 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

supposed that there were islands to the eastward, in the direc- 
tion of the position where he began to meet with it; for he 
considers it certain that this weed has its origin in shallow 
water near the land, and, if this is the case, these Indies must 
be very near the Canary Islands. For this reason he thought 
the distance must be less than 400 leagues. 

Wednesday, 16th of January 

They got under way three hours before daylight, and 
left the gulf, which was named Golfo de las Flechas,^ with the 
land-breeze. Afterwards there was a west wind, which was 
fair to go to the island of Carib on an E.N.E. course. This 
was where the people live of whom all the natives of the other 
islands are so frightened, because they roam over the sea in 
canoes without number, and eat the men they can capture. 
The Admiral steered the course indicated by one of the four 
Indians he took yesterday in the Puerto de las Flechas. After 
having sailed about 64 miles, the Indians made signs that the 
island was to the S.E.^ The Admiral ordered the sails to be 
trimmed for that course, but, after having proceeded on it 
for two leagues, the wind freshened from a quarter which was 
very favorable for the voyage to Spain. The Admiral had 
noticed that the crew were downhearted when he deviated 
from the direct route home, reflecting that both caravels were 
leaking badly, and that there was no help but in God. He 
therefore gave up the course leading to the islands, and shaped 
a direct course for Spain E.N.E. He sailed on this course, 
making 48 miles, which is 12 leagues, by sunset. The Indians 
said that by that route they would fall in with the island of 
Matinino, peopled entirely by women without men, and the 
Admiral wanted very much to take five or six of them to the 
Sovereigns. But he doubted whether the Indians understood 

' Gulf of the Arrows. This was the Bay of Samana, into which the river 
Yuna flows. (Navarrete.) 

^ Porto Rico. It would have been distant about 30 leagues. 
(Navarrete.) 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 229 

the route well, and he could not afford to delay, by reason of 
the leaky condition of the caravels. He, however, believed the 
story, and that, at certain seasons, men came to them from 
the island of Carib, distant ten or twelve leagues. If males 
were bom, they were sent to the island of the men; and if 
females, they remained with their mothers.^ The Admiral 
says that these two islands cannot have been more than 15 
or 20 leagues to the S.E. from where he altered course, the 
Indians not understanding how to point out the direction. 
After losing sight of the cape, which was named San Theramo,^ 
which was left 16 leagues to the west, they went for 12 leagues 
E.N.E. The weather was very fine. 

Thursday, 17th of January 

The wind went down at sunset yesterday, the caravels 
having sailed 14 glasses, each a little less than half-an-hour, 
at 4 miles an hour, making 28 miles. Afterwards the wind 
freshened, and they ran all that watch, which was 10 glasses. 
Then another six until sunrise at 8 miles an hour, thus making 
altogether 84 miles, equal to 21 leagues, to the E.N.E. , and 
until sunset 44 miles, or 11 leagues, to the east. Here a 
booby ^ came to the caravel, and afterwards another. The 
Admiral saw a great deal of gulf-weed. 

Friday, 18th of January 

During the night they steered E.S.E., with little wind, for 
40 miles, equal to 10 leagues, and then 30 miles, or 7^ leagues, 
until sunrise. All day they proceeded with Httle wind to 
E.N.E. and N.E. by E., more or less, her head being sometimes 

^ "The sons remain with their mothers till the age of fourteen when they 
go to join their fathers in their separate abode." Marco Polo, pt. iii., 
ch. XXXIII. Cf. p. 226, note 4. 

^ Now called Cabod el Engano, the extreme eastern point of Espanola. 
It had the same name when Las Casas wrote. (Markham.) 

' Alcatraz. 



230 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

north and at others N.N.E., and, counting one with the other, 
they made 60 miles, or 15 leagues. There was little weed, 
but yesterday and to-day the sea appeared to be full of tunnies. 
The Admiral believed that from there they must go to the 
tunny-fisheries of the Duke, of Conil and Cadiz/ He also 
thought they were near some islands, because a frigate-bird ^ 
flew round the caravel, and afterwards went away to the S.S.E. 
He said that to the S.E. of the island of Espanola were the 
islands of Carib, Matinino, and many others. 

Saturday, 19th of January 

During the night they made good 56 miles N.N.E., and 
64 N.E. by N. After sunrise they steered N.E. with the wind 
fresh from S.W., and afterwards W.S.W. 84 miles, equal to 
21 leagues. The sea was again full of small tunnies. There 
were boobies, frigate-birds, and terns.^ 

Sunday, 20th of January 

It was calm during the night, with occasional slants of 
wind, and they only made 20 miles to the N.E. After sunrise 
they went 11 miles S.E., and then 36 miles N.N.E., equal to 
9 leagues. They saw an immense quantity of small tunnies, 
the air very soft and pleasant, like Seville in April or May, 

^ The almadrahas, or tunny fisheries of Rota, near Cadiz, were inherited 
by the Duke, as well as those of Conil, a little fishing town 6 leagues east 
of Cadiz. (Markham.) 

^ Un pescado (a fish), called the rahijorcado. For un pescado, we 
should probably read una ave pescadora, and translate : a fishing bird, called 
rahijorcado. See entry for September 29 and note. 

^ Alcatraces, rabos de juncos, and rabiforcados : boobies, boatswain- 
birds, and frigate-birds. The translator has not been consistent in 
selecting English equivalents for these names. In the entry of January 18 
rahijorcado is frigate-bird; in that of January 19 rabo de junco is frigate- 
bird ; in that of January 21 rabo de junco is hoatswain-hird. September 
14 garjao is the tern, while on January 19 the rahijorcado is the tern. On 
these birds, see notes 11, 12, 13, and 20. See also Oviedo, Historia General 
y natural de las Indias, lib. xiv., cap. i., for descriptions of these birds. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 231 

and the sea, for which God be given many thanks, always very 
smooth. Frigate-birds, sandpipers,^ and other birds were 
seen. 

Monday, 21st of January 

Yesterday, before sunset, they steered N.E. b. E., with the 
wind east, at the rate of 8 miles an hour until midnight, equal 
to 56 miles. Afterwards they steered N.N.E. 8 miles an hour, 
so that they made 104 miles, or 26 leagues, during the night 
N.E. by N. After sunrise they steered N.N.E. with the same 
wind, which at times veered to N.E., and they made good 88 
miles in the eleven hours of daylight, or 21 leagues: except 
one that was lost by delay caused by closing with the Pinta 
to communicate. The air was colder, and it seemed to get 
colder as they went further north, and also that the nights 
grew longer owing to the narrowing of the sphere. Many 
hoatswain-birds and terns ^ were seen, as well as other birds 
but not so many fish, perhaps owing to the water being colder. 
Much weed was seen. 

Tuesday, 22nd of January 

Yesterday, after sunset, they steered N.N.E. with an east 
wind. They made 8 miles an hour during five glasses, and 
three before the watch began, making eight glasses, equal to 
72 miles, or 18 leagues. Afterwards they went N.E. by N. 
for six glasses, which would be another 18 miles. Then, during 
four glasses of the second watch N.E. at six miles an hour, or 
three leagues. From that time to simset, for eleven glasses, 
E.N.E. at 6 leagues an hour,^ equal to seven leagues. Then 

^ Rabiforcados y pardelas. Las Casas, I. 440, has aves pardelas. Tal- 
hausen, Neues Spanisch-deutsches Worterbuch, defines pardelas as Peters-vogel, 
i.e., petrel. 

' Rabos de juncos y pardelas. The translator vacillates between sand- 
pipers and terns in rendering pardelas. Cf. January 28 and 31, but as has just 
been noted "petrels" is the proper word. 

^ An error of the transcriber for miles. Each glass being half-an-hour, 
going six miles an hour, they would have made 33 miles or 8J leagues in five 
hours and a half. (Navarrete.) 



232 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

E.N.E. until 11 o'clock, 32 miles. Then the wind fell, and 
they made no more during that day. The Indians swam about. 
They saw boatswain-birds and much weed. 



Wednesday, 2Srd of January 

To-night the wind was very changeable, but, making the 
allowances applied by good sailors, they made 84 miles, or 
21 leagues, N.E. by N. Many times the caravel Nina had to 
wait for the Pinta, because she sailed badly when on a bowline, 
the mizzen being of little use owing to the wealoiess of the 
mast. He says that if her captain, that is, Martin Alonso 
Pinzon, had taken the precaution to provide her with a good 
mast in the Indies, where there are so many and such excellent 
spars, instead of deserting his commander from motives of 
avarice, he would have done better. They saw many boat- 
swain-birds and much weed. The heavens have been clouded 
over during these last days, but there has been no rain. The 
sea has been as smooth as a river, for which many thanks be 
given to God. After sunrise they went free, and made 30 miles, 
or 7^ leagues N.E. During the rest of the day E.N.E. another 
30 miles. 

Thursday, 2Uh of January 

They made 44 miles, or 11 leagues, during the night, 
allowing for many changes in the wind, which was generally 
N.E. After sunrise until sunset E.N.E. 14 leagues. 



Friday, 25th of January 

They steered during part of the night E.N.E. for 13 glasses, 
making 9| leagues. Then N.N.E. 6 miles. The wind fell, 
and during the day they only made 28 miles E.N.E., or 7 
leagues. The sailors killed a tunny and a very large shark, 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 233 

which was very welcome, as they now had nothing but bread 
and wine, and some yams from the Indies. 



Saturday, 2Qth of January 

This night they made 56 miles, or 14 leagues, E.S.E. After 
sunrise they steered E.S.E., and sometimes S.E., making 40 
miles up to 11 o'clock. Afterwards they went on another 
tack, and then on a bowhne, 24 miles, or 6 leagues, to the north, 
until night. 

Sunday, 27th of January 

Yesterday, after sunset, they steered N.E. and N.E. by N. 
at the rate of five miles an hour, which in thirteen hours would 
be 65 miles, or 16| leagues. After sunrise they steered N.E. 
24 miles, or 6 leagues, until noon, and from that time until 
sunset 3 leagues E.N.E. 

Monday, 28th of January 

All night they steered E.N.E. 36 miles, or 9 leagues. After 
sunrise until sunset E.N.E. 20 miles, or 5 leagues. The 
weather was temperate and pleasant. They saw boatswain- 
birds, sandpipers,^ and much weed. 

Tuesday, 29th of January 

They steered E.N.E. 39 miles, or 9| leagues, and during 
the whole day 8 leagues. The air was very pleasant, like 
April in Castile, the sea smooth, and fish they call dorados ^ 
came on board. 

» Petrels. 

^ The English equivalent is dory, or gilthead. 



234 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

Wednesday, SOth of January 

All this night they made 6 leagues E.N.E., and in the day 
S.E. by S. 13^ leagues. Boatswain-birds^ much weed, and 
many tunnies. 

Thursday, 31st of January 

This night they steered N.E. by N. 30 miles, and after- 
wards N.E. 35 miles, or 16 leagues. From sunrise to night 
E.N.E. ISJ leagues. They saw boatswain-birds and tems.^ 



Friday, 1st of February 

They made 16| leagues E.N.E. during the night, and went 
on the same course during the day 29| leagues. The sea very 
smooth, thanks be to God. 



Saturday, 2nd of February 

They made 40 miles, or 10 leagues, E.N.E. this night. In 
the daytime, with the same wind aft, they went 7 miles an 
hour, so that in eleven hours they had gone 77 miles, or 9i 
leagues. The sea was very smooth, thanks be to God, and the 
air very soft. They saw the sea so covered with weed that, 
if they had not known about it before, they would have been 
fearful of sunken rocks. They saw terns. ^ 



Sunday, 3rd of February 

This night, the wind being aft and the sea very smooth, 
thanks be to God, they made 29 leagues. The North Star 
appeared very high, as it does off Cape St. Vincent. The 

^ Petrels. 



1493] JOUKNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 235 

Admiral was unable to take the altitude, either with the 
astrolabe or with the quadrant, because the rolling caused 
by the waves prevented it. That day he steered his course 
E.N.E., going 10 miles an hour, so that in eleven hours he made 
27 leagues. 

Monday, ith of February 

During the night the course was N.E. by E., going twelve 
miles an hour part of the time, and the rest ten miles. Thus 
they made 130 miles, or 32 leagues and a half. The sky was 
very threatening and rainy, and it was rather cold, by which 
they knew that they had not yet reached the Azores. After 
sunrise the course was altered to east. During the whole 
day they made 77 miles, or 19| leagues. 

Tuesday, 5th of February 

This night they steered east, and made 55 miles, or 13| 
leagues. In the day they were going ten miles an hour, and 
in eleven hours made 110 miles, or 27| leagues. They saw 
sandpipers, and some small sticks, a sign that they were near 
land. 

Wednesday, Qth of February 

They steered east during the night, going at the rate of 
eleven miles an hour, so that in the thirteen hours of the night 
they made 143 miles, or 35| leagues. They saw many birds. 
In the day they went 14 miles an hour, and made 154 miles, 
or 38| leagues; so that, including night and day, they made 
74 leagues, more or less. Vicente Anes ^ said that they had 
left the island of Flores to the north and Madeira to the east. 
Roldan ^ said that the island of Fayal, or San Gregorio, was 

* Vicente Yanez Pinzon. 

^ Later a rich citizen of the city of Santo Domingo, Espaiiola, where he 
was known as Roldan the pilot. Las Casas, I. 443. 



236 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

to the N.N.E. and Puerto Santo to east. There was much 
weed. 

Thursday, 7th of February 

This night they steered east, going ten miles an hour, so 
that in thirteen hours they made 130 miles, or 32| leagues. In 
the daytime the rate was eight miles an hour, in eleven hours 
88 miles, or 22 leagues. This morning the Admiral found 
himself 65 leagues south of the island of Flores, and the pilot 
Pedro Alonso,^ being further north, according to his reckoning, 
passed between Terceira and Santa Maria to the east, passing 
to windward of the island of Madeira, twelve leagues further 
north. The sailors saw a new kind of weed, of which there is 
plenty in the islands of the Azores. 

Friday, 8th of February 

They went three miles an hour to the eastward for some 
time during the night, and afterwards E.S.E., going twelve 
miles an hour. From sunrise to noon they made 27 miles, 
and the same distance from noon till sunset, equal to 13 leagues 

S.S.E. 

Saturday, 9th of February 

For part of this night they went 3 leagues S.S.E., and 
afterwards S. by E., then N.E. 5 leagues until ten o'clock in 
the forenoon, then 9 leagues east until dark. 

Sunday, 10th of February 

From sunset they steered east all night, making 130 miles, 
or 32| leagues. During the day they went at the rate of nine 

^ The name is also written Peralonso Nino. He made one of the first voy- 
ages to the mainland of South America after the third voyage of Columbus. 
See Irving, Companions of Columbus. Bourne, Spain in America, p. 69. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 237 

miles an hour, making 99 miles, or 24| leagues, in eleven 
hours. 

In the caravel of the Admiral, Vicente Yanez and the two 
pilots, Sancho Ruiz and Pedro Alonso Nino, and Roldan, 
charted or plotted the route. They all made the posi- 
tion a good deal beyond the islands of the Azores to the east, 
and, navigating to the north, none of them touched Santa 
Maria, which is the last of all the Azores. They made the 
position five leagues beyond it, and were in the vicinity of 
the islands of Madeira and Puerto Santo. But the Admiral 
was very different from them in his reckoning, finding the posi- 
tion very much in rear of theirs. This night he found the island 
of Flores to the north, and to the east he made the direction 
to be towards Nafe in Africa, passing to leeward of the island 
of Madeira to the north . . . leagues.^ So that the pilots 
were nearer to Castile than the Admiral by 150 leagues. The 
Admiral says that, with the grace of God, when they reach the 
land they will find out whose reckoning was most correct. He 
also says that he went 263 leagues from the island of Hierro 
to the place where he first saw the gulf -weed. 

Monday, 11th of February 

This night they went twelve miles an hour on their course, 
and during the day they ran 16| leagues. They saw many 
birds, from which they judged that land was near. 

Tuesday, 12th of February 

They went six miles an hour on an east course during the 
night, altogether 73 miles, or ISj leagues. At this time they 
began to encounter bad weather with a heavy sea; and, if 
the caravel had not been very well managed, she must have 
been lost. During the day they made 11 or 12 leagues with 
much difficulty and danger. 

* A gap in the original manuscript. 



238 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

Wednesday, 13th of February 

From sunset until daylight there was great trouble with the 
wind, and the high and tempestuous sea. There was light- 
ning three times to the N.N.E. — a sign of a great storm 
coming either from that quarter or its opposite. They were 
lying-to most of the night, afterwards showing a little sail, 
and made 52 miles, which is 13 leagues. In the day the wind 
moderated a little, but it soon increased again. The sea was 
terrific, the waves crossing each other, and straining the 
vessels. They made 55 miles more, equal to 13^ leagues. 

Thursday, lUh of February 

This night the wind increased, and the waves were terrible, 
rising against each other, and so shaking and straining the ves- 
sel that she could make no headway, and was in danger of 
being stove in. They carried the mainsail very closely reefed, 
so as just to give her steerage- way, and proceeded thus for 
three hours, making 20 miles. Meanwhile, the wind and sea 
increased, and, seeing the great danger, the Admiral began to 
run before it, there being nothing else to be done. The cara- 
vel Pinta began to run before the wind at the same time, and 
Martin Alonso ran her out of sight, ^ although the Admiral 
kept showing lanterns all night, and the other answered. 
It would seem that she could do no more, owing to the force 
of the tempest, and she was taken far from the route of the 
Admiral. He steered that night E.N.E., and made 54 miles, 
equal to 13 leagues. At sunrise the wind blew still harder, 
and the cross sea was terrific. They continued to show the 
closely-reefed mainsail, to enable her to rise from between the 

' Martin Alonso Pinzon succeeded in bringing the caravel Pinta into 
port at Bayona in Galicia. He went thence to Palos, arriving in the even- 
ing of the same day as the Nina with the Admiral. Pinzon died very soon 
afterwards. Oviedo [ I. 27] says: "He went to Palos to his own house 
and died after a few days since he went there very ill." (Markham.) 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 239 

waves, or she would otherwise have been swamped. An E.N.E. 
course was steered, and afterwards N.E. by E. for six hours, 
making 7^ leagues. The Admiral ordered that a pilgrimage 
should be made to Our Lady of Guadalupe,^ carrying a candle 
of 6 lbs. of weight in wax, and that all the crew should take an 
oath that the pilgrimage should be made by the man on whom 
the lot fell. As many chick-peas were got as there were per- 
sons on board, and on one a cross was cut with a knife. They 
were then put into a cap and shaken up. The first who put 
in his hand was the Admiral, and he drew out the chick-pea with 
a cross, so the lot fell on him ; and he was bound to go on the 
pilgrimage and fulfil the vow. Another lot was drawn, to go 
on pilgrimage to Our Lady of Loreto, which is in the march 
of Ancona, in the Papal territory, a house where Our Lady 
works many and great miracles.^ The lot fell on a sailor of 
the port of Santa Maria, named Pedro de Villa, and the Ad- 
miral promised to pay his travelling expenses. Another pil- 
grimage was agreed upon, to watch for one night in Santa 
Clara at Moguer,^ and have a mass said, for which they again 
used the chick-peas, including the one with a cross. The lot 
again fell on the Admiral. After this the Admiral and all the 
crew made a vow that, on arriving at the first land, they 
would all go in procession, in their shirts, to say their prayers 
in a church dedicated to Our Lady. 

Besides these general vows made in common, each sailor 
made a special vow; for no one expected to escape, holding 
themselves for lost, owing to the fearful weather from which 
they were suffering. The want of ballast increased the danger 
of the ship, which had become hght, owing to the consumption 
of the provisions and water. On account of the favorable 

' The Virgin of Guadalupe was the patroness of Estremadura. As many 
of the early colonists went from Estremadura there came to be a good 
number of her shrines in Mexico. Cf. R. Ford, Handbook for Spain, 
index under "Guadalupe." 

^ A full account of the shrine at Loreto may be found in Addis and 
Arnold, Catholic Dictionary, under "Loreto." 

^ "This is the house where the sailors of the country particularly have 
their devotions," Las Casas, I. 446. Moguer was a village near Pales. 



240 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

weather enjoyed among the islands, the Admiral had omitted 
to make provision for this need, thinking that ballast might 
be taken on board at the island inhabited by women, which 
he had intended to visit. The only thing to do was to fill the 
barrels that had contained wine or fresh water with water 
from the sea, and this supplied a remedy. 

Here the Admiral writes of the causes which made him 
fear that he would perish, and of others that gave him hope 
that God would work his salvation, in order that such news 
as he was bringing to the Sovereigns might not be lost. It 
seemed to him that the strong desire he felt to bring such great 
news, and to show that all he had said and offered to discover 
had turned out true, suggested the fear that he would not be 
able to do so, and that each stinging insect would be able to 
thwart and impede the work. He attributes this fear to his 
little faith, and to his want of confidence in Divine Provi- 
dence. 

He was comforted, on the other hand, by the mercies of God 
in having vouchsafed him such a victory, in the discoveries he 
had made, and in that God had complied with all his desires 
in Castile, after much adversity and many misfortunes. As 
he had before put all his trust in God, who had heard him and 
granted all he sought, he ought now to believe that God would 
permit the completion of what had been begun, and ordain that he 
should be saved. Especially as he had freed him on the voyage 
out, when he had still greater reason to fear, from the trouble 
caused by the sailors and people of his company, who all with 
one voice declared their intention to return, and protested 
that they would rise against him.^ But the eternal God gave 
him force and valor to withstand them all, and in many other 
marvellous ways had God shown his will in this voyage besides 
those known to their Highnesses. Thus he ought not to fear 
the present tempest, though his weakness and anxiety prevent 
him from giving tranquillity to his mind. He says further 
that it gave him great sorrow to think of the two sons he had 
left at their studies in Cordova, who would be left orphans, 

* See page 108, note 1. and entry for October 10. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 241 

without father or mother/ in a strange land ; while the Sover- 
eigns would not know of the services he had performed in 
this voyage, nor would they receive the prosperous news 
which would move them to help the orphans. To remedy 
this, and that their Highnesses might know how our Lord 
had granted a victory in all that could be desired respecting 
the Indies,^ and that they might understand that there were 
no storms in those parts, which may be known by the herbs 
and trees which grow even within the sea;^ also that the 
Sovereigns might still have information, even if he perished 
in the storm, he took a parchment and wrote on it as good an 
account as he could of all he had discovered, entreating any 
one who might pick it up to deliver it to the Sovereigns. He 
rolled this parchment up in waxed cloth, fastened it very 
securely, ordered a large wooden barrel to be brought, and put 
it inside, so that no one else knew what it was. They thought 
that it was some act of devotion, and so he ordered the barrel 
to be thrown into the sea. Afterwards, in the showers and 
squalls, the wind veered to the west, and they went before it, 
only with the foresail, in a very confused sea, for five hours. 
They made 2^ leagues N.E. They had taken in the reefed 
mainsail, for fear some wave of the sea should carry all away.* 

' As Beatriz Enriquez, the mother of Ferdinand, was still living, this pas- 
sage has occasioned much perplexity. A glance at the corresponding passage, 
quoted in direct discourse from this entry in the Journal, in the Historic of 
Ferdinand, shows that the words " orphans without father or mother " were 
not in the original Journal, if we can trust this transcript. On the other 
hand, Las Casas, in his Historia, I. 447, where he used the original Journal and 
not the abridgment that has come down to us, has the words " huerfanos de 
padre y madre en tierra estraTla." It may be that Ferdinand noted the error 
of the original Journal and quietly corrected it. 

^ In Ferdinand's text nothing is said explicitly about the Indies. 

' There is nothing corresponding to this in Ferdinand's extract from the 
Journal. Was this omission also a case of pious revision ? 

The Admiral thought that there could be no great storms in the countries 
he had discovered, because trees (mangroves) actually grew with their roots 
in the sea. The herbage on the beach nearly reached the waves, which does 
not happen when the sea is rough. (Markham.) 

* Ferdinand Columbus has preserved in his life of his father the exact 
words of the Journal for the last two pages of the entry for February 14. 
The extract is given here to illustrate the character of the work of the epito- 



242 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

Friday, 15th of February 

Last night, after sunset, the sky began to clear towards 
the west, showing that the wind was inchned to come from 

mizer who prepared the text of the Journal as it has come down to us. 
" I should have borne this fortune with less distress if my life alone had been 
in peril, since I am aware that I am in debt to the Most High Creator for my 
life and because at other times I have found myself so near to death that al- 
most nothing remained but to suffer it. But what caused me boundless 
grief and trouble was the reflection that, now that Our Lord had been pleased 
to enlighten me with the faith and with the certainty of this undertaking 
in which he had already given me the victory, that just now, when our 
gainsayers were to be convinced and your Highnesses were to receive from me 
glory and enlargement of your high estate, the Divine Majesty should will 
to block it with my death. This last would have been more endurable if 
it did not involve that of the people I brought with me with the promise 
of a very prosperous issue. They seeing themselves in such a plight not only 
cursed their coming but even the fear or the restraint which after my per- 
suasions prevented them from turning back from the way as many times they 
were resolved to do. And above all this my grief was redoubled at the vision 
before my eyes and at the recollection of two little sons that I had left at 
their studies in Cordova without succor in a strange land and without my 
having rendered (or at least without its being made manifest) the service for 
which one might trust that your Highnesses would remember them. 

" And although on the one hand I was comforted by the faith that I had 
that Our Lord would never suffer a work which would highly exalt his Church, 
which at length after so much opposition and such labors I had brought to 
the last stage, to remain unaccomplished and that I should be broken ; on 
the other hand, I thought that, either on account of my demerits or to 
prevent my enjoying so much glory in this world, it was his pleasure to take 
it away from me, and so while thus in perplexity I bethought myself of the 
venture of your Highnesses who even if I should die and the ship be lost, 
might find means of not losing a victory already achieved and that it might 
be possible in some way for the news of the success of my voyage to come 
to your ears; wherefore I wrote on a parchment with the brevity that the 
time demanded how I had discovered the lands that I had promised to, and 
in how many days ; and the route I had followed ; and the goodness of the 
countries, and the quality of their inhabitants and how they were the vassals 
of your Highnesses who had possession of all that had been found by me. 
This writing folded and sealed I directed to your Highnesses with the super- 
scription or promise of a thousand ducats to him who should deliver it thus 
unopened, in order that, if some foreigners should find it, the truth of this 
superscription might prevent them from disposing of the information which 
was inside. And I straightway had a large cask brought and having wrapped 
the writing in a waxed cloth and put it into a kind of tart or cake of wax I 
placed it in the barrel which, stoutly hooped, I then threw into the sea. All 
believed that it was some act of devotion. Then because I thought it might 



1493] JOUENAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 243 

that quarter. The admiral added the bonnet ^ to the mainsail. 
The sea was still very high, although it had gone down slightly. 
They steered E.N.E., and went four miles an hour, which made 
13 leagues during the eleven hours of the night. After sunrise 
they sighted land. It appeared from the bows to bear E.N.E. 
Some said it was the island of Madeira, others that it was the 
rock of Cintra, in Portugal, near Lisbon. Presently the wind 
headed to E.N.E. , and a heavy sea came from the west, the 
caravel being 5 leagues from the land. The Admiral found by 
his reckoning that he was close to the Azores, and believed 
that this was one of them. The pilots and sailors thought 
it was the land of Castile.^ 



Saturday, IQth of February 

All that night the Admiral was standing off and on to keep 
clear of the land, which they now knew to be an island, some- 
times standing N.E., at others N.N.E., until sunrise, when they 
tacked to the south to reach the island, which was now con- 
cealed by a great mist. Another island was in sight from 
the poop, at a distance of eight leagues. Afterwards, from 
sunrise until dark, they were tacking to reach the land 
against a strong wind and head-sea. At the time of repeat- 
ing the Salve, which is just before dark, some of the men 
saw a light to leeward, and it seemed that it must be on the 
island they first saw yesterday. All night they were beating 
to windward, and going as near as they could, so as to see some 
way to the island at sunrise. That night the Admiral got a little 
rest, for he had not slept nor been able to sleep since Wed- 
nesday, and he had lost the use of his legs from long exposure 

not arrive safely and the ships were all the while approaching Castile I made 
another package like that and placed it on the upper part of the poop in 
order that if the ship should sink the barrel might float at the will of fate." 

' The bonnet was a small sail usually cut to a third the size of the mizzen, 
or a fourth of the mainsail. It was secured through eyelet-holes to the leech 
of the mainsail, in the manner of a studding sail. (Navarrete.) 

^ On this day the Admiral dated the letter to Santangel, the escribano de 
radon, which is given below on pp. 263-272. 



244 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

to the wet and cold. At sunrise^ he steered S.S.W., and 
reached the island at night, but could not make out what 
island it was, owing to the thick weather. 

Monday, 18th of February 

Yesterday, after sunset, the Admiral was saiHng round the 
island, to see where he could anchor and open communications. 
He let go one anchor, which he presently lost, and then stood 
off and on all night. After sunrise he again reached the north 
side of the island, where he anchored, and sent the boat on 
shore. They had speech with the people, and found that it was 
the island of Santa Maria, one of the Azores. They pointed 
out the port ^ to which the caravel should go. They said that 
they had never seen such stormy weather as there had been 
for the last fifteen days, and they wondered how the caravel 
could have escaped. They gave many thanks to God, and 
showed great joy at the news that the Admiral had discovered 
the Indies. The Admiral says that his navigation had been 
very certain, and that he had laid his route down on 
the chart. Many thanks were due to our Lord, although there 
had been some delay. But he was sure that he was in the 
region of the Azores, and that this was one of them. He pre- 
tended to have gone over more ground, to mislead the pilots 
and mariners who pricked off the charts, in order that he might 
remain master of that route to the Indies, as, in fact, he did. 
For none of the others kept an accurate reckoning, so that no 
one but himself could be sure of the route to the Indies. 

Tuesday, 19th of February 

After sunset three natives of the island came to the beach 
and hailed. The Admiral sent the boat, which returned with 
fowls and fresh bread. It was carnival time, and they brought 

* This was on Sunday, 17th of February. (Navarrete.) 
^ The port of San Lorenzo. (Id.) 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 245 

other things which were sent by the captain of the island, 
named Juan de Castaneda, saying that he knew the Admiral 
very well, and that he did not come to see him because it was 
night, but that at dawn he would come with more refreshments, 
bringing with him three men of the boat's crew, whom he did 
not send back owing to the great pleasure he derived from 
hearing their account of the voyage. The Admiral ordered 
much respect to be shown to the messengers, and that 
they should be given beds to sleep in that night, because it 
was late, and the town was far off. As on the previous Thurs- 
day, when they were in the midst of the storm, they had made 
a vow to go in procession to a church of Our Lady as soon as 
they came to land, the Admiral arranged that half the crew 
should go to comply with their obligation to a small chapel, 
hke a hermitage, near the shore; and that he would himself 
go afterwards with the rest. Beheving that it was a peaceful 
land, and confiding in the offers of the captain of the island, 
and in the peace that existed between Spain and Portugal, 
he asked the three men to go to the town and arrange for a 
priest to come and say mass. The half of the crew then went 
in their shirts, in compliance with their vow. While they were 
at their prayers, all the people of the town, horse and foot, 
with the captain at their head, came and took them all pris- 
oners. The Admiral, suspecting nothing, was waiting for 
the boat to take him and the rest to accomplish the vow. 
At 11 o'clock, seeing that they did not come back, he feared 
that they had been detained, or that the boat had been 
swamped, all the island being surrounded by high rocks. He 
could not see what had taken place, because the hermitage 
was round a point. He got up the anchor, and made sail 
until he was in full view of the hermitage, and he saw many 
of the horsemen dismount and get into the boat with arms. 
They came to the caravel to seize the Admiral. The captain 
stood up in the boat, and asked for an assurance of safety 
from the Admiral, who replied that he granted it ; but, what 
outrage was this, that he saw none of his people in the boat ? 
The Admiral added that they might come on board, and that 



246 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

he would do all that might be proper. The Admiral tried, 
with fair words, to get hold of this captain, that he might 
recover his own people, not considering that he broke faith 
by giving him security, because he had offered peace and se- 
curity, and had then broken his word. The captain, as he 
came with an evil intention, would not come on board. See- 
ing that he did not come alongside, the Admiral asked that 
he might be told the reason for the detention of his men, an 
act which would displease the King of Portugal, because the 
Portuguese received much honor in the territories of the King 
of Castile, and were as safe as if they were in Lisbon. He 
further said that the Sovereigns had given him letters of recom- 
mendation to all the Lords and Princes of the world, which he 
would show the captain if he would come on board; that he 
was the Admiral of the Ocean Sea, and Viceroy of the Indies, 
which belonged to their Highnesses,^ and that he would show 
the commissions signed with their signatures, and attested 
by their seals, which he held up from a distance. He added 
that his Sovereigns were in friendship and amity with the 
King of Portugal, and had ordered that all honor should be 
shown to ships that came from Portugal. Further, that if the 
captain did not surrender his people, he would still go on to 
Castile, as he had quite sufficient to navigate as far as Seville, 
in which case the captain and his followers would be severely 
punished for their offence. Then the captain and those with 
him rephed that they did not know the King and Queen of 
Castile there, nor their letters, nor were they afraid of them, 
and they would give the Admiral to understand that this was 
Portugal, almost menacing him. On hearing this the Admiral 
was much moved, thinking that some cause of disagreement 
might have arisen between the two kingdoms during his 
absence, yet he could not endure that they should not be 
answered reasonably. Afterwards he turned to the captain, 

' The incredulity of the Portuguese governor as to these assertions was 
natural. The title Admiral of the Ocean Sea was novel and this was the first 
time it was announced that Spain or any other European power had posses- 
sions in the Indies. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 247 

and said that he should go to the port with the caravel, and 
that all that had been done would be reported to the King 
his Lord. The Admiral made those who were in the caravel 
bear witness to what he said, calling to the captain and all 
the others, and promising that he would not leave the caravel 
until a hundred Portuguese had been taken to Castile, and all 
that island had been laid waste. He then returned to anchor 
in the port where he was first, the wind being very unfavor- 
able for doing anything else. 

Wednesday, 20th of February 

The Admiral ordered the ship to be repaired, and the casks 
to be filled alongside for ballast. This was a very bad port, 
and he feared he might have to cut the cables. This was so, 
and he made sail for the island of San Miguel ; but there is no 
good port in any of the Azores for the weather they then ex- 
perienced, and there was no other remedy but to go to sea. 

Thursday, 21st of February 

Yesterday the Admiral left that island of Santa Maria for 
that of San Miguel, to see if a port could be found to shelter 
his vessel from the bad weather. There was much wind and a 
high sea, and he was sailing until night without being able to 
see either one land or the other, owing to the thick weather 
caused by wind and sea. The Admiral says he was in much 
anxiety, because he only had three sailors who knew their 
business, the rest knowing nothing of seamanship.^ He was 
lying-to all that night, in great danger and trouble. Our 
Lord showed him mercy in that the waves came in one direc- 
tion, for if there had been a cross sea they would have suffered 
much more. After sunrise the island of San Miguel was not 
in sight, so the Admiral determined to return to Santa Maria, 
to see if he could recover his people and boat, and the anchors 
and cables he had left there. 

' Half the crew were still detained on shore. 



248 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

The /'dmiral says that he was astonished at the bad 
weather he encountered in the region of these islands. In 
the Indies he had navigated throughout the winter without 
the necessity for anchoring, and always had fine weather, 
never having seen the sea for a single hour in such a state 
that it could not be navigated easily. But among these islands 
he had suffered from such terrible storms. The same had 
happened in going out as far as the Canary Islands, but as 
soon as they were passed there was always fine weather, both 
in sea and air. In concluding these remarks, he observes 
that the sacred theologians and wise men ^ said well when they 
placed the terrestrial paradise in the Far East, because it is 
a most temperate region. Hence these lands that he had now 
discovered must, he says, be in the extreme East. 

Friday, 22nd of February 

Yesterday the Admiral anchored off Santa Maria, in the 
place or port where he had first anchored. Presently a man 
came down to some rocks at the edge of the beach, signalling 
that they were not to go away. Soon afterwards the boat 
came with five sailors, two priests, and a scrivener. They 
asked for safety, and when it was granted by the Admiral, 
they came on board, and as it was night they slept on board, 
the Admiral showing them all the civihty he could. In the 
morning they asked to be shown the authority of the Sover- 
eigns of Castile, by which the voyage had been made. The 
Admiral felt that they did this to give some color of right to 
what they had done, and to show that they had right on their 
side. As they were unable to secure the person of the Admiral, 
whom they intended to get into their power when they 
came with the boat armed, they now feared that their game 
might not turn out so well, thinking, with some fear, of what 
the Admiral had threatened, and which he proposed to put into 

* That the site of the Garden of Eden was to be found in the Orient 
was a common belief in the Middle Ages and later. CJ. the Book of Sir 
John Mandeville, ch. xxx. 



|k — 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 249 

execution. In order to get his people released, the Admiral 
displayed the general letter of the Sovereigns to all Princes 
and Lords, and other documents, and having given them of 
what he had, the Portuguese went on shore satisfied, and 
presently released all the crew and the boat. The Admiral 
heard from them that if he had been captured also, they never 
would have been released, for the captain said that those were 
the orders of the King his Lord. 

Saturday, 23rd of February 

Yesterday the weather began to improve, and the Admiral 
got under way to seek a better anchorage, where he could 
take in wood and stones for ballast; but he did not find one 
until the hour of compline.^ 

Sunday, 24:th of February 

He anchored yesterday in the afternoon, to take in wood 
and stones, but the sea was so rough that they could not land 
from the boat, and during the first watch it came on to blow 
from the west and S.W. He ordered sail to be made, owing 
to the great danger there is off these islands m being at anchor 
with a southerly gale, and as the wind was S.W. it would go 
round to south. As it was a good wind for Castile, he gave 
up his intention of taking in wood and stones, and shaped 
an easterly course until sunset, going seven miles an hour for 
six hours and a half, equal to 45| miles. After sunset he made 
six miles an hour, or 66 miles in eleven hours, altogether 111 
miles, equal to 28 leagues. 

Monday, 25th of Februxiry 

Yesterday, after sunset, the caravel went at the rate of 
five miles an hour on an easterly course, and in the eleven 

^ The last of the canonical hours of prayer, about nine in the evening. 



250 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

hours of the night she made 65 miles, equal to 16j leagues. 
From sunrise to sunset they made another 16| leagues with 
a smooth sea, thanks be to God. A very large bird, like an 
eagle, came to the caravel. 

Tuesday, 2Qth of February 

Yesterday night the caravel steered her course in a smooth 
sea, thanks be to God. Most of the time she was going eight 
miles an hour, and made a hundred miles, equal to 25 leagues. 
After sunrise there was little wind and some rain-showers. 
Jhey made about 8 leagues E.N.E. 

Wednesday, 27th of February 

During the night and day she was off her course, owing to 
contrary winds and a heavy sea. She was found to be 125 
leagues from Cape St. Vincent, and 80 from the island of 
Madeira, 106 from Santa Maria. It was very troublesome to 
have such bad weather just when they were at the very door 
of their home. 

Thursday, 2Sth of February 

The same weather during the night, with the wind from 
south and S.E., sometimes shifting to N.E. and E.N.E., and 
it was the same all day. 
t 

Friday, 1st of March 

To-night the course was E.N.E. , and they made twelve 
leagues. During the day, 23^ leagues on the same course. 

Saturday, 2nd of March 

The course was E.N.E., and distance made good 28 leagues 
during the night, and 20 in the day. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 251 

Sunday, Srd of March 

After sunset the course was east ; but a squall came down, 
split all the sails, and the vessel was in great danger; but 
God was pleased to deliver them. They drew lots for send- 
ing a pilgrim in a shirt to Santa Maria de la Cinta at Huelva, 
and the lot fell on the Admiral. The whole crew also made a 
vow to fast on bread and water during the first Saturday after 
their arrival in port. They had made 60 miles before ,the sails 
were split. Afterwards they ran under bare poles, owing to 
the force of the gale and the heavy sea. They saw signs of 
the neighborhood of land, finding themselves near Lisbon. 



Monday, ith of March 

During the night they were exposed to a terrible storm, 
expecting to be overwhelmed by the cross-seas, while the wind 
seemed to raise the caravel into the air, and there was rain and 
lightning in several directions. The Admiral prayed to our 
Lord to preserve them, and in the first watch it pleased our 
Lord to show land, which was reported by the sailors. As 
it was advisable not to reach it before it was known whether 
there was any port to which he could run for shelter, the 
Admiral set the mainsail, as there was no other course but to 
proceed, though in great danger. Thus God preserved them 
until daylight, though all the time they were in infinite fear 
and trouble. When it was light, the Admiral knew the lan^, 
which was the rock of Cintra, near the river of Lisbon, and he 
resolved to run in because there was nothing else to be done. 
So terrible was the storm, that in the village of Cascaes, at 
the mouth of the river, the people were praying for the little 
vessel all that morning. After they were inside, the people 
came off, looking upon their escape as a miracle. At the third 
hour they passed Rastelo, within the river of Lisbon, where 
they were told that such a winter, with so many storms, had 
never before been known, and that 25 ships had been lost in 



252 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

Flanders, while others had been wind-bound in the river for 
four months. Presently the Admiral wrote to the king of 
Portugal, who was then at a distance of nine leagues, to state 
that the Sovereigns of Castile had ordered him to enter the 
ports of his Highness, and ask for what he required for pay- 
ment, and requesting that the king would give permission 
for the caravel to come to Lisbon, because some rufhans, 
hearing that he had much gold on board, might attempt a 
robbery in an unfrequented port, knowing that they did not 
come from Guinea, but from the Indies/ 



Tuesday, 5th of March 

To-day the great ship of the King of Portugal was also at 
anchor off Rastelo, with the best provision of artillery and 
arms that the Admiral had ever seen. The master of her, 
named Bartolome Diaz, of Lisbon, came in an armed boat to 
the caravel, and ordered the Admiral to get into the boat, 
to go and give an account of himself to the agents of the king 
and to the captain of that ship. The Admiral replied that he 
was the Admiral of the Sovereigns of Castile, and that he would 
not give an accomit to any such persons, nor would he leave 
the ship except by force, as he had not the power to resist. 
The master replied that he must then send the master of the 
caravel. The Admiral answered that neither the master nor 
any other person should go except by force, for if he allowed 
anyone to go, it would be as if he went himself ; and that such 
was the custom of the Admirals of the Sovereigns of Castile, 
rather to die than to submit, or to let any of their people sub- 
mit. The master then moderated his tone, and told the Ad- 
miral that if that was his determination he might do as he 
pleased. He, however, requested that he might be shown the 
letters of the Kings of Castile, if they were on board. The 
Admiral readily showed them, and the master returned to the 

* On this day the Admiral probably wrote the postscript to his letter to 
Santangel written at sea on February 15. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 253 

ship and reported what had happened to the captain, named 
Alvaro Dama. That officer, making great festival with 
trumpets and drums, came to the caravel to visit the Admiral, 
and offered to do all that he might require.^ 

Wednesday, Qth of March 

As soon as it was known that the Admiral came from the 
Indies, it was wonderful how many people came from Lisbon 
to see him and the Indians, giving thanks to our Lord, and 
saying that the heavenly Majesty had given all this to the 
Sovereigns of Castile as a reward for their faith and their 
great desire to serve God. 

Thursday, 7th of March 

To-day an immense number of people came to the caravel, 
including many knights, and amongst them the agents of the 
king, and all gave infinite thanks to our Lord for so wide an 
increase of Christianity granted by our Lord to the Sover- 
eigns of Castile; and they said that they received it because 
their Highnesses had worked and labored for the increase of 
the rehgion of Christ. 



Friday, 8th of March 

To-day the Admiral received a letter from the king of 
Portugal,^ brought by Don Martin de Norona, asking him to 

' Modern scholars have too hastily identified this Bartolome Diaz with 
the discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope. There is no evidence for this except 
the identity of the name. Against the supposition are the facts that neither 
Columbus, Las Casas, nor Ferdinand remark upon this meeting with the 
most eminent Portuguese navigator of the time, and that this Diaz is a subor- 
dinate officer on this ship who is sent to summon Columbus to report to the 
captain. That the great admiral of 1486-1487 would in 1493 be a simple 
Patron on a single ship is incredible. 

^ Joao n. 



264 VOYAGES OP COLUMBUS [1493 

visit him where he was, as the weather was not suitable for 
the departure of the caravel. He complied, to prevent sus- 
picion, although he did not wish to go, and went to pass the 
night at Sacanben. The king had given orders to his officers 
that all that the Admiral, his crew, and the caravel were in 
need of should be given without payment, and that all the 
Admiral wanted should be comphed with. 

Saturday, 9th of March 

To-day the Admiral left Sacanben, to go where the king was 
residing, which was at Valparaiso, nine leagues from Lisbon. 
Owing to the rain, he did not arrive until night. The king 
caused him to be received very honorably by the principal 
officers of his household; and the king himself received the 
Admiral with great favor, making him sit down, and talking 
very pleasantly. He offered to give orders that everything 
should be done for the service of the Sovereigns of Castile, 
and said that the successful termination of the voyage had given 
him great pleasure. He said further that he understood that, 
in the capitulation between the Sovereigns and himself, that 
conquest belonged to him.^ The Admiral replied that he 
had not seen the capitulation, nor knew more than that the 
Sovereigns had ordered him not to go either to La Mina ^ or 
to any other port of Guinea, and that this had been ordered 
to be proclaimed in all the ports of Andalusia before he sailed. 
The king graciously replied that he held it for certain that 
there would be no necessity for any arbitrators. The Admiral 
was assigned as a guest to the Prior of Clato, who was the 

* The treaty of Alcaqovas signed by Portugal September 8, 1479, and by 
Spain March 6, 1480. In it Ferdinand and Isabella relinquished all rights 
to make discoveries along the coast of Africa and retained of the African 
islands only the Canaries. The Spanish text is printed in Alguns Documentos 
da Torre do Tombo (Lisbon, 1892), pp. 45-46. See also Vignaud, Toscanelli 
and Columbus, pp. 61-64. 

^ "The Mine," more commonly El Mina, a station established on the Gold 
Coast by Diogo de Azambuja in 1482. The full name in Portuguese was S. 
Jorge da Mina, St. George of the Mine. 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 255 

principal person in that place, and from whom he received 
many favors and civilities. 



Sunday, 10th of March 

To-day, after mass, the king repeated that if the Admiral 
wanted anything he should have it. He conversed much with 
the Admiral respecting his voyage, always ordering him to 
sit down, and treating him with great favor. 



Monday, 11th of March 

To-day the Admiral took leave of the king, who entrusted 
him with some messages to the Sovereigns, and always treating 
him with much friendliness.^ He departed after dinner, Don 

^ The Portuguese historian Ruide Pina, in his Cronica D'El Rey Joao, 
gives an account of Columbus's meeting with the king which is contemporary. 
From his official position as chief chronicler and head of the national archives 
and from the details which he mentions it is safe to conclude that he was an 
eye-witness. 

"In the following year, 1493, while the king was in the place of the Val 
do Paraiso which is above the Monastery of Sancta Maria das Vertudes, 
on account of the great pestilences which prevailed in the principal places in 
this district, on the sixth of March there arrived at Restello in Lisbon Chris- 
tovam Colombo, an jtalia n who came from the discovery of the islands of 
Cipango and Antilia which he~Kad accomplished by the command of the 
sovereigns of Castile from which land he brought with him the first speci- 
mens of the people, gold and some other things that they have ; and he was 
entitled Admiral of them. And the king being informed of this, commanded 
him to come before him and he showed that he felt disgusted and grieved 
because he beheved that this discovery was made within the seas and bounds 
of his lordship of Guinea which was prohibited and Hkewise because the said 
Admiral was somewhat raised from his condition and in the account of his 
affairs always went beyond the bounds of the truth and made this thing in 
gold, silver, and riches much greater than it was. The king was accused of 
negligence in withdrawing from him for not giving him credit and authority 
in regard to this discovery for which he had first come to make request of him. 
And although the king was urged to consent to have him slain there, since 
with his death the prosecution of this enterprise so far as the sovereigns of 
Castile were concerned would cease on account of the decease of the dis- 
coverer ; and that this could be done without suspicion if he consented and 



256 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

Martin de Norona being sent with him, and all the knights set 
out with him, and went with him some distance, to do him 
honor. Afterwards he came to a monastery of San Antonio, 
near a place called Villafranca, where the Queen was residing. 
The Admiral went to do her reverence and to kiss her hand, 
because she had sent to say that he was not to go without 
seeing her. The Duke ^ and the Marquis were with her, and 
the Admiral was received with much honor. He departed at 
night, and went to sleep at Llandra. 



Tuesday, 12th of March 

To-day, as he was leaving Llandra to return to the caravel, 
an esquire of the king arrived, with an offer that if he desired 
to go to Castile by land, that he should be supplied with 
lodgings, and beasts, and all that was necessary. When the 
Admiral took leave of him, he ordered a mule to be supplied 
to him, and another for his pilot, who was with him, and he 
says that the pilot received a present of twenty espadines.'^ 
He said this that the Sovereigns might know all that was done. 
He arrived on board the caravel that night. 

ordered it, since as he was discourteous and greatly elated they could get 
involved with him in such a way that each one of these his faults would 
seem to be the true cause of his death ; yet the king like a most God-fearing 
prince not only forbade this but on the contrary did him honor and showed 
him kindness and therewith sent him away." Collecqao de Livros Ineditos de 
Historia Portugueza, II. 178-179. It will be noted that according to this 
account Columbus said he had discovered Cipango and Antilia, a mythical 
island which is represented on the maps of the fifteenth century, and that 
Columbus is called Colombo his ItaHan name, and not Colom or Colon. 

^ This may have been her brother, the Duke of Bejar, afterwards King 
Manoel. 

^ Espadim : a Portuguese gold piece coined by Joao 11. Las Casas, 
I. 466, says: "20 Espadinos, a matter of 20 ducats." The Espadim con- 
tained 58 to 65 grains of gold. W. C. Hazlitt, Coinage of European Nations, 
sub voce. King Joao II. gave Columbus's pilot almost exactly the sum 
which Henry VII. gave to John Cabot, which was £10. In the French 
translation and the translation in J. B. Thacher's Christopher Columbus 
the word espadines is erroneously taken to be Spanish and rendered 
" -Epees," and "small short swords." 



1493] JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE 257 

Wednesday, 13th of March 

To-day, at 8 o'clock, with the flood tide, and the wind 
N.N.W., the Admiral got under way and made sail for Se- 
ville. 



Thursday, 14.th of March 

Yesterday, after sunset, a southerly course was steered, 
and before sunrise they were off Cape St. Vincent, which is 
in Portugal. Afterwards he shaped a course to the east for 
Saltes, and went on all day with little wind, ''until now that 
the ship is off Furon." 

Friday, 15th of March 

Yesterday, after sunset, she went on her course with little 
wind, and at sunrise she was off Saltes. At noon, with the tide 
rising, they crossed the bar of Saltes, and reached the port 
which they had left on the 3rd of August of the year before.^ 
The Admiral says that so ends this journal, unless it becomes 
necessary to go to Barcelona by sea, having received news that 
their Highnesses are in that city, to give an account of all his 
voyage which our Lord had permitted him to make, and saw 
fit to set forth in him. For, assuredly, he held with a firm 
and strong knowledge that His High Majesty made all things 
good, and that all is good except sin. Nor can he value or 
think of anything being done without His consent. ''I know 
respecting this voyage," says the Admiral, ''that he has 
miraculously shown his will, as may be seen from this journal, 
setting forth the numerous miracles that have been displayed 
in the voyage, and in me who was so long at the court of your 
Highnesses, working in opposition to and against the opinions 
of so many chief persons of your household, who were all 

' Having been absent 225 days. 



258 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

against me, looking upon this enterprise as folly. But I hope, 
in our Lord, that it will be a great benefit to Christianity, for 
so it has ever appeared." These are the final words of the 
Admiral Don Cristoval Colon respecting his first voyage to the 
Indies and their discovery. 



LETTER FROM COLUMBUS TO LUIS DE 
SANTANGEL 



INTRODUCTION 

This letter, the earliest published narrative of Columbus's 
first voyage, was issued in Barcelona in April, 1493, not far 
from the time when the discoverer was received in state by 
the King and Queen. The Escribano de Radon, to whom it 
was addressed, was Luis de Santangel, who had deeply inter- 
ested himself in the project of Columbus and had advanced 
money to enable Queen Isabella to meet the expenses of the 
voyage. He, no doubt, placed a copy in the hands of the 
printer. Only two printed copies of this Spanish letter, as 
it is called, have come down to us. One is a folio of the first 
imprint, discovered and reproduced in 1889. Of this the 
unique copy is in the Lenox Library in New York ; its first 
page is reproduced in facsimile in this volume, by courteous 
permission of the authorities of the hbrary. The other is a 
quarto of the second and slightly corrected imprint, first made 
known in 1852 and first reproduced in 1866. Facsimiles of 
both are given in Thacher's Christopher Columbus, 11. 17-20 
and 33-40. 

Columbus sent a duplicate of this letter with some slight 
changes to Gabriel Sanxis (Spanish form, Sanchez), the 
treasurer of Aragon, from whose hands a copy came into the 
possession of Leander de Cosco, who translated it into Latin, 
April 29, 1493. 

This Latin version was pubhshed in Rome, probably in 
May, 1493, and this issue was rapidly followed by reprints in 
Rome, Basel, Paris, and Antwerp. It is to this Latin version 

261 



262 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 

that the European world outside of Spain was indebted for 
its first knowledge of the new discoveries. 

A poetical paraphrase in ItaUan by Giuliano' Dati was 
pubhshed in Rome in June, 1493. This is reprinted in Major's 
Select Letters of Columbus. The first German edition of the 
letter was published in Strassburg in 1497. 

In the years 1493-1497 the Santangel letter was printed 
twice in Spanish, and the duplicate of it, the Sanchez letter, 
was printed nine times in Latin, five times in Dati's Italian 
paraphrase, and once in German. Until the publication in 
1571 of the Historie, the Italian translation of Ferdinand 
Columbus's biography of his father, which contains an abridg- 
ment of Columbus's Journal, these letters and the account in 
Peter Martyr's Decades de Rebus Oceanicis, were the only 
sources of information in regard to the first voyage accessible 
to the world at large. The translation here given is that con- 
tained in Quaritch's The Spanish Letter of Columbus (London, 
1893), with a few minor changes in the wording. An Enghsh 
translation of the Latin or Sanchez letter may be found in the 
first edition of Major's Select Letters of Columbus (London, 
1847). This version is reprinted in P. L. Ford's Writings of 
Christopher Columbus, New York, 1892. By an error in the 
title of the first edition, Rome, 1493, Sanchez's Christian 
name is given as Raphael. 

The text of the Santangel' letter published by Navarrete 
in 1825 was derived from a manuscript preserved in the 
Spanish Archives at Simancas. In 1858 the Brazilian scholar 
Varnhagen published an edition of the Sanchez letter from a 
manuscript discovered by him in Valencia. Neither of these 
manuscripts, however, has the authority of the first printed 
editions. 

E. G. B. 



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■ Vtir IT''-'' 



Facsimile of the first page of the folio (first) edition of the Spanish text of Columbus's 
letter to Santangel, describing his first voyage, dated February 15, 1493. From the 
original (unique) in the New York Public Library (Lenox Building). 



LETTER FROM COLUMBUS TO LUIS DE 
SANTANGEL 

Sir : As I know that you will have pleasure from the great 
victory which our Lord hath given me in my voyage, I write 
you this, by which you shall know that in thirty-three days 
I passed over to the Indies with the fleet which the most 
illustrious King and Queen, our Lords, gave me; where I 
found very many islands peopled with inhabitants beyond 
number. And, of them all, I have taken possession for their 
Highnesses, with proclamation and the royal standard dis- 
played ; and I was not gainsaid. To the first which I found, 
I gave the name Sant Salvador, in commemoration of His 
High Majesty, who marvellously hath given all this: the Ind- 
ians call it Guanaham.^ The second I named the Island of 
Santa Maria de Concepcion, the third Ferrandina, the fourth. 
Fair Island,^ the fifth La Isla Juana ; and so for each one a 
new name. When I reached Juana, I followed its coast west- 
wardly, and found it so large that I thought it might be main- 
land, the province of Cathay. And as I did not thus find any 
towns and villages on the sea-coast, save small hamlets with 
the people whereof I could not get speech, because they all 
fled away forthwith, I went on further in the same direction, 
thinking I should not miss of great cities or towns. And at 
the end of many leagues, seeing that there was no change, 
and that the coast was bearing me northwards, whereunto my 
desire was contrary, since the winter was already confronting 
us, I formed the purpose of making from thence to the South, 
and as the wind also blew against me, I determined not to 
wait for other weather and turned back as far as a port agreed 

^ Guanahani in the Journal; see entry covering October 11 and 12, 
^ The original text has Isla bella, which was a misprint for Isabella. C/. 
Journal, October 20. 

263 



264 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

upon ; from which I sent two men into the country to learn if 
there were a king, or any great cities. They travelled for 
three days, and found innumerable small villages and a num- 
berless population, but nought of ruling authority; wherefore 
they returned/ I understood sufficiently from other Indians 
whom I had already taken, that this land, in its continuous- 
ness, was an island;^ and so I followed its coast eastwardly 
for a hundred and seven leagues as far as where it terminated ; 
from which headland I saw another island to the east, eighteen 
leagues distant from this, to which I at once gave the name 
La Spanola.^ And I proceeded thither, and followed the 
northern coast, as with La Juana, eastwardly for a hundred and 
eighty-eight great leagues in a direct easterly course, as with 
La Juana. The which, and all the others, are most fertile 
to an excessive degree, and this extremely so. In it, there are 
many havens on the sea-coast, incomparable with any others 
that I know in Christendom, and plenty of rivers so good and 
great that it is a marvel. The lands thereof are high, and in 
it are very many ranges of hills, and most lofty mountains 
incomparably beyond the island of Tenerife,* all most beauti- 
ful in a thousand shapes, and all accessible, and full of trees 
of a thousand kinds, so lofty that they seem to reach the sky. 
And I am assured that they never lose their foliage; as may 
be imagined, since I saw them as green and as beautiful as 
they are in Spain during May. And some of them were in 
flower, some in fruit, some in another stage according to their 
kind. And the nightingale was singing, and other birds of a 
thousand sorts, in the month of November, there where I was 
going. There are palm-trees of six or eight species, wondrous to 
see for their beautiful variety ; but so are the other trees, and 
fruits, and plants therein. There are wonderful pine-groves, 
and very large plains of verdure, and there is honey, and many 
kinds of birds, and many various fruits. In the earth there are 

* Cf. Journal, November 2 and 6. 

^ Cf. Journal, November 1, for Columbus's strong inclination to regard 
Cuba as mainland. 

' C/. Journal, December 9. 

* Cj. Journal, December 20 and note. 



1492] LETTER TO LUIS DE SANTANGEL 265 

many mines of metals; and there is a population of incalcu- 
lable number/ Espanola is a marvel ; the mountains and hills, 
and plains, and fields, and the soil, so beautiful and rich for 
planting and sowing, for breeding cattle of all sorts, for build- 
ing of towns and villages. There could be no believing, with- 
out seeing, such harbors as are here, as well as the many and 
great rivers, and excellent waters, most of which contain gold. 
In the trees and fruits and plants, there are great diversities 
from those of Juana. In this, there are many spiceries, and 
great mines of gold and other metals. The people of this 
island, and of all the others that I have found and seen, or not 
seen, all go naked, men and women, just as their mothers 
bring them forth ; although some women cover a single place 
with the leaf of a plant, or a cotton something which they make 
for that purpose. They have no iron or steel, nor any weapons ; 
nor are they fit thereunto; not because they be not a well- 
formed people and of fair stature, but that they are most won- 
drously timorous. They have no other weapons than the 
stems of reeds in their seeding state, on the end of which they 
fix httle sharpened stakes. Even these, they dare not use; 
for many times has it happened that I sent two or three men 
ashore to some village to parley, and countless numbers of them 
sallied forth, but as soon as they saw those approach, they 
fled away in such wise that even a father would not wait for 
his son. And this was not because any hurt had ever been 
done to any of them : — on the contrary, at every headland 
where I have gone and been able to hold speech with them, I 
gave them of everything which I had, as well cloth as many 
other things, without accepting aught therefor; — but such they 
are, incurably timid. It is true that since they have become 
more assured, and are losing that terror, they are artless and 
generous with what they have, to such a degree as no one would 

' The prevalent Spanish estimate of the population of Espanola at 
the time of the first colonization was 1,100,000. The modern ethnologist 
and critical historian, Oscar Peschel, placed it at less than 300,000 and more 
than 200,000. The estimates of Indian population by the early writers 
were almost invariably greatly exaggerated. Cf. Bourne, Spain in 
America, pp. 213-214, and notes. 



266 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

believe but him who had seen it. Of anything they have, if it 
be asked for, they never say no, but do rather invite the per- 
son to accept it, and show as much lovingness as though they 
would give their hearts. And whether it be a thing of value, 
or one of little worth, they are straightways content with what- 
soever trifle of whatsoever kind may be given them in return 
for it. I forbade that anything so worthless as fragments of 
broken platters, and pieces of broken glass, and strap buckles,^ 
should be given them; although when they were able to get 
such things, they seemed to think they had the best jewel in 
the world, for it was the hap of a sailor to get, in exchange for 
a strap,^ gold to the weight of two and a half castellanos,^ and 
others much more for other things of far less value; while 
for new blancas ^ they gave everything they had, even though 
it were [the worth of] two or three gold castellanos, or one or 
two arrobas of spun * cotton. They took even pieces of broken 
barrel-hoops, and gave whatever they had, Hke senseless brutes ; 
insomuch that it seemed to me bad. I forbade it, and I gave 
gratuitously a thousand useful things that I carried, in order 
that they may conceive affection, and furthermore may be- 
come Christians ; for they are inclined to the love and service 
of their Highnesses and of all the Castilian nation, and they 
strive to combine in giving us things which they have in abun- 
dance, and of which we are in need. And they knew no sect, 
nor idolatry ; save that they all believe that power and good- 
ness are in the sky, and they believed very firmly that I, 
with these ships and crews, came from the sky; and in such 
opinion, they received me at every place where I landed, 
after they had lost their terror. And this comes not because 
they are ignorant: on the contrary, they are men of very 
subtle wit, who navigate all those seas, and who give a mar- 
vellously good account of everything, but because they never 

* Cabos de agugetas. Rather the metallic tips of lacings or straps. Agugeta 
is a leather lacing or strap. The contemporary Latin translator used 
hingulae, shoe-straps, shoe-latchets. 

^ The castellano was one-sixth of an ounce of gold. 

^ Blancas were little coins worth about one-third of a cent. 

* The arroba was 25 pounds. 



1492] LETTER TO LUIS DE SANTANGEL 267 

saw men wearing clothes nor the Hke of our ships. And as 
soon as I arrived in the Indies, in the first island that I found, 
I took some of them by force, to the intent that they should 
learn [our speech] and give me information of what there was 
in those parts. And so it was, that very soon they understood 
[us] and we them, what by speech or what by signs; and 
those [Indians] have been of much service. To this day I 
carry them [with me] who are still of the opinion that I come 
from Heaven [as appears] from much conversation which they 
have had with me. And they were the first to proclaim it 
wherever I arrived; and the others went running from house 
to house and to the neighboring villages, with loud cries of 
"Come! come to see the people from Heaven!" Then, as 
soon as their minds were reassured about us, every one came, 
men as well as women, so that there remained none behind, 
big or little; and they all brought something to eat and 
drink, which they gave with wondrous lovingness. They have 
in all the islands very many canoas,^ after the manner of row- 
ing-galleys,^ some larger, some smaller ; and a good many are 
larger than a galley of eighteen benches. They are not so 
wide, because they are made of a single log of timber, but a 
galley could not keep up with them in rowing, for their motion 
is a thing beyond belief. And with these, they navigate 
through all those islands, which are numberless, and ply their 
traffic. I have seen some of those canoas with seventy and 
eighty men in them, each one with his oar. In all those 
islands, I saw not much diversity in the looks of the people, 
nor in their manners and language; but they all understand 
each other, which is a thing of singular advantage for what I 
hope their Highnesses will decide upon for converting them to 
our holy faith, unto which they are well disposed. I have 
already told how I had gone a hundred and seven leagues, in 
a straight line from West to East, along the sea-coast of the 
Island of Juana ; according to which itinerary, I can declare 
that that island is larger than England and Scotland com- 

* The first appearance of this West Indian word in Europe. 
^ Fustas de remo. 



268 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

bined;^ as, over and above those hundred and seven leagues, 
there remain for me, on the western side, two provinces whereto 
I did not go — one of which they call Avan, where the people 
are born with tails ^ — which provinces cannot be less in 
length than fifty or sixty leagues, according to what may be 
understood from the Indians with me, who know all the islands. 
This other, Espaiiola, has a greater circumference than the 
whole of Spain from Col[ibre in Cataljunya, by the sea-coast, 
as far as Fuente Ravia in Biscay ; since, along one of its four 
sides, I went for a hundred and eighty-eight great leagues in 
a straight line from west to east.^ This is [a land] to be de- 
sired, — and once seen, never to be relinquished — in which 
(although, indeed, I have taken possession of them all for 
their Highnesses, and all are more richly endowed than I 
have skill and power to say, and I hold them all in the name 
of their Highnesses who can dispose thereof as much and as 
completely as of the kingdoms of Castile) in this Espanola, 
in the place most suitable and best for its proximity to the 
gold mines, and for traffic with the mainland both on this 
side and with that over there belonging to the Great Can,^ 
where there will be great commerce and profit, I took pos- 
session of a large town which I named the city of Navidad.^ 
And I have made fortification there, and a fort (which by this 

* Cf. Journal, December 23, and note. The reader will observe the tone 
of exaggeration in the letter as compared with the Journal. 

' Marco Polo reported that in the kingdom of Lambri in Sumatra "there 
are men who have tails like dogs, larger than a palm, and who are covered 
with hair." Marco Polo, pt. in., ch. xiv. See Yule's note on the legend 
of men with tails. Yule's Marco Polo, II. 284. The name Avan (Anan in 
the Latin letter) does not occur in the Journal. Bernaldez, Historia de las 
Reyes Catolicos, II. 19, gives Albao as one of the provinces of Espaiiola. As 
this name is not found in his chief source, Dr. Chanca's letter, he may have 
got it from Columbus and through a lapse of memory transferred it from 
Cuba to Espanola. 

^ The area of Spain is about 191,000 square miles; that of Espanola or 
Hayti is 28,000. The extreme length of Hayti is 407 miles. 

* That is, with the mainland of Europe on this side of the Atlantic and 
with the mainland on that side of the ocean belonging to the Great Can, i.e., 
China. 

' I.e., Nativity, Christmas, because the wreck occurred on that day. 
Cf. Journal, December 25 and January 4, and note to entry of December 28. 



1492] LETTER TO LUIS DE SANTANGEL 269 

time will have been completely finished) and I have left therein 
men enough for such a purpose, with arms and artillery, and 
provisions for more than a year, and a boat, and a [man who 
is] master of all seacraft for making others ; and great friend- 
ship with the king of that land, to such a degree that he prided 
himself on calling and holding me as his brother. And even 
though his mind might change towards attacking those men, 
neither he nor his people know what arms are, and go naked. 
As I have already said, they are the most timorous creatures 
there are in the world, so that the men who remain there are 
alone sufficient to destroy all that land, and the island is 
without personal danger for them if they know how to behave 
themselves. It seems to me that in all those islands, the men 
are all content with a single wife; and to their chief or king 
they give as many as twenty. The women, it appears to me, 
do more work than the men. Nor have I been able to learn 
whether they held personal property, for it seemed to me 
that whatever one had, they all took share of, especially of 
eatable things. Down to the present, I have not found in 
those islands any monstrous men, as many expected,^ but on 
the contrary all the people are very comely ; nor are they black 
like those in Guinea, but have flowing hair ; and they are not 
begotten where there is an excessive violence of the rays of 
the sun. It is true that the sun is there very strong, although 
it is twenty-six degrees distant from the equinoctial line.^ 
In those islands, where there are lofty mountains, the cold 
was very keen there, this winter; but they endure it by 
being accustomed thereto, and by the help of the meats which 
they eat with many and inordinately hot spices. Thus I 
have not found, nor had any information of monsters, except 

^ Columbus had read in the Imago Mundi of Pierre d'Ailly and noted in 
the margin the passage which says that in the ends of the earth there "were 
monsters of such a horrid aspect that it were hard to say whether they were 
men or beasts." Raccolta Colombiajia, pt. I., vol. II., p. 468. Cf. also the 
stories in the Book of Sir John Mandeville, chs. xxvii. and xxviii. 

^ Columbus apparently revised his estimate of the latitude on the return, 
without, however, correcting his Journal; cf. entries for October 30 and 
November 21. 



270 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1492 

of an island which is here the second in the approach to the 
Indies, which is inhabited by a people whom, in all the islands, 
they regard as very ferocious, who eat human flesh. These 
have many canoes with which they run through all the 
islands of India, and plunder and take as much as they can. 
They are no more ill-shapen than the others, but have the 
custom of wearing their hair long, like women ; and they use 
bows and arrows of the same reed stems, with a point of wood 
at the top, for lack of iron which they have not. Amongst 
those other tribes who are excessively cowardly, these are 
ferocious; but I hold them as nothing more than the others. 
These are they who have to do with the women of Matinino ^ 
— which is the first island that is encountered in the passage 
from Spain to the Indies — in which there are no men. Those 
women practise no female usages, but have bows and arrows of 
reed such as above mentioned ; and they arm and cover them- 
selves with plates of copper of which they have much. In 
another island, which they assure me is larger than Espanola, 
the people have no hair. In this there is incalculable gold; 
and concerning these and the rest I bring Indians with me as 
witnesses. And in conclusion, to speak only of what has been 
done in this voyage, which has been so hastily performed, their 
Highnesses may see that I shall give them as much gold as 
they may need, with very little aid which their Highnesses 
will give me; spices and cotton at once, as much as their 
Highnesses will order to be shipped, and as much as they 
shall order to be shipped of mastic, — which till now has never 
been found except in Greece, in the island of Xio,^ and the 
Seignory sells it for what it likes; and aloe-wood as much 
as they shall order to be shipped; and slaves as many 
as they shall order to be shipped, — and these shall be from 
idolators. And I believe that I have discovered rhubarb 
and cinnamon, and I shall find that the men whom I am leav- 

* See Journal, January 15, and note. The island is identified with Mar- 
tinique. 

^ See Journal, November 12, and note. The Seignory was the govern- 
ment of Genoa to which Chios [Scio] belonged at this time. 



1492] LETTER TO LUIS DE SANTANGEL 271 

ing there will have discovered a thousand other things of value ; 
as I made no delay at any point, so long as the wind gave me 
an opportunity of sailing, except only in the town of Navidad 
till I had left things safely arranged and well established. 
And in truth I should have done much more if the ships had 
served me as well as might reasonably have been expected. 
This is enough; and [thanks to] Eternal God our Lord who 
gives to all those who walk His way, victory over things which 
seem impossible ; and this was signally one such, for although 
men have talked or written of those lands, ^ it was all by con- 
jecture, without confirmation from eyesight, amounting only 
to this much that the hearers for the most part listened and 
judged that there was more fable in it than anything actual, 
however trifling. Since thus our Redeemer has given to our 
most illustrious King and Queen, and to their famous kingdoms, 
this victory in so high a matter, Christendom should have 
rejoicing therein and make great festivals, and give solemn 
thanks to the Holy Trinity for the great exaltation they shall 
have by the conversion of so many peoples to our holy faith ; 
and next for the temporal benefit which will bring hither re- 
freshment and profit, not only to Spain, but to all Christians. 
This briefly, in accordance with the facts. Dated, on the 
caravel, off the Canary Islands,^ the 15 February of the year 
1493. 

At your command, 

The Admiral. 



Postscript which came within the Letter 

After having written this letter, and being in the sea of 
Castile, there rose upon me so much wind. South and South- 

^ Such writers, for example, as Pierre d'Ailly, Marco Polo, and the author 
of the Book of Sir John Mandeville, from whom Columbus had derived most 
of his preconceptions which often biassed or misled him in interpreting the 
signs of the natives. 

2 According to the Journal, Columbus thought he was off the Azores, 
February 15. 



272 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 

east/ that it has caused me to Hghten the vessels; however, 
I ran hither to-day into this port of Lisbon, which was the 
greatest wonder in the world; where I decided to write to 
their Highnesses. I have always found the seasons hke May 
in all the Indies, whither I passed in thirty-three days, and 
returned in twenty-eight, but that these storms have delayed 
me twenty-three days running about this sea.^ All the sea- 
men say here that there never has been so bad a winter, nor 
so many shipwrecks. 

Dated the 14th of March.' 

Colom sent this letter to the Escrivano de Racion.^ Of 
the islands found in the Indies. Received with another for 
their Highnesses.^ 

^ The storm of March 3d; see Journal. 

^ The time of the return voyage, Uke that of the outgoing voyage, is 
reckoned as that consumed in making the Atlantic passage from the last 
island left on one side to the first one reached on the other. Just how the 
twenty-three days is to be explained is not altogether clear. The editor 
of Quaritch's The Spanish Letter of Columbus supposed Columbus to refer 
to the time which elapsed from February 16, when he arrived at the Azores, 
to March 13, when he left Lisbon. 

^ Columbus arrived at Lisbon March 4, and he is supposed by R. H. 
Major to have written the postscript there, but not to have despatched the 
letter until he reached Seville, March 15, when he re4ated it March 14. 

* The Escrivano de Radon in the kingdom of Ara^p was the high steward 
or controller of the king's household expenditure^ \n Castile the corre- 
sponding official was the contador mayor, chief auditor or steward. Navar- 
rete, I. 167. 

^ No longer extant. These lines are a memorandum appended to the 
text by Santangel or the printer, and might have been used as a title, as 
the similar memorandum was used in the publication of the Latin letter. 
The Admiral's name is spelled as in the Articles of Agreement " Colom." 



LETTER FROM COLUMBUS TO FERDI- 
NAND AND ISABELLA CONCERNING 
THE COLONIZATION AND COMMERCE 
OF ESPANOLA^ 

Most High and Powerful Lords : In obedience to what 
your Highnesses command me, I shall state what occurs to 
me for the peophng and management of the Spanish Island ^ 
and of all others, whether already discovered or hereafter to 
be discovered, submitting myself, however, to any better 
opinion. 

^ The original text of this letter will be most accessible in Thacher, Chris- 
topher Columbus, III. 100-113. It is there accompanied by a facsimile of 
the original manuscript and an English translation. The translation here 
given is a revision of that made by Dr. Jose Ignacio Rodriguez of Washing- 
ton and printed in the Report of the American Historical Association, 1894, 
pp. 452-455, as part of a paper by W. E. Curtis on Autographs of Chris- 
topher Columbus. The text was first printed by Justo Zaragoza in his 
Cartas de Indias, etc. (Madrid, 1877). It was first translated by George 
Dexter in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. XVI. 
This translation, which contains some errors which seriously affect the meaning, 
is also to be found in P. L. Ford, Writings of Christopher Columbus, pp. 67-74. 
Zaragoza placed the date of this letter in 1497. It is the opinion of the 
present editor that it should be placed between the first and the second 
voyage. The argvmients advanced by Lollis in favor of 1493 are conclu- 
sive. See Raccolta Colombiana, parte I., tomo I., pp. Ixxv-lxxx. 

The letter is of great importance as the first draft of a systematic colonial 
policy for the newly discovered islands. Several of its suggestions were 
incorporated in the letter of instructions which the Sovereigns gave Colum- 
bus May 29, 1493, for the second voyage. See Navarrete, Viages, II. 
66-72. It was supplemented in 1494 by the memorandum which the 
Admiral sent back to the sovereigns by Antonio de Torres and the two 
together entitle Columbus to be considered the pioneer lawgiver as well 
as the discoverer of the New World. Cf. Bourne, Spain in America, pp. 
204-206. 

^ La ysla Espahola. So translated, for so it would sound to the Sovereigns. 
There had not been time for Espanola to sound Uke a proper name. 
T 273 



274 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

In the first place, in regard to the Spanish Island: that 
there should go there settlers up to the number of two thou- 
sand ^ who may want to go so as to render the possession of 
the country safer and cause it to be more profitable and help- 
ful in the intercourse and traffic with the neighboring islands. 

Likewise, that in the said island three or four towns be 
founded at convenient places, and the settlers be properly 
distributed among said places and towns. 

Likewise, in order to secure the better and prompter settle- 
ment of the said island, that the privilege of getting gold be 
granted exclusively to those who actually settle and build 
dwelling-houses in the settlement where they may be, in 
order that all may live close to each other and more safely. 

Likewise, that in each place and settlement there be a mayor ^ 
or mayors and a clerk ^ according to the use and custom of 
Castile. 

Likewise, that a church be built, and that priests or friars 
be sent there for the administration of the sacraments, and 
for divine worship and the conversion of the Indians. 

Likewise, that no settler be allowed to go and gather gold 
unless with a permit from the governor or mayor of the town 
in which he lives, to be given only upon his promising under 
oath to return to the place of his residence and faithfully 
report all the gold which he may have gathered, this to be 
done once a month, or once a week, as the time may be as- 
signed to him, the said report to be entered on the proper 
registry by the clerk of the town in the presence of the mayor, 
and if so deemed advisable, in the presence of a friar or priest 
selected for the purpose. 

Likewise, that all the gold so gathered be melted forthwith, 
and stamped with such a stamp as the town may have devised 
and selected, and that it be weighed and that the share of that 
gold which belongs to your Highnesses be given and deUv- 

* See Bourne, Spain in America, pp. 34-35, for the actual equipment of 
the second voyage. 
^ Alcalde. 
3 Escribano del pueblo. 



1493] LETTER CONCERNING ESPANOLA 275 

ered to the mayor of the town, the proper record thereof being 
made by the clerk and by the priest or friar, so that it may not 
pass through only one hand and may so render the concealing 
of the truth impossible. 

Likewise, that all the gold which may be found without 
the mark or seal aforesaid in the possession of any one who for- 
merly had reported once as aforesaid, be forfeited and divided 
by halves, one for the informer and the other for your High- 
nesses. 

Likewise, that one per cent, of all the gold gathered be set 
apart and appropriated for building churches, and providing 
for their proper furnishing and ornamentation, and to the sup- 
port of the priests or friars having them in their charge, and, 
if so deemed advisable, for the payment of some compensa- 
tion to the mayors and clerks of the respective towns, so as to 
cause them to fulfil their duties faithfully, and that the balance 
be delivered to the governor and treasurer sent there by your 
Highnesses. 

Likewise, in regard to the division of the gold and of the 
share which belongs to your Highnesses, I am of the opinion 
that it should be entrusted to the said governor and treasurer, 
because the amount of the gold found may sometimes be large 
and sometimes small, and, if so deemed advisable, that the 
share of your Highnesses be established for one year to be 
one-half, the other half going to the gatherers, reserving for a 
future time to make some other and better provision, if nec- 
essary. 

Likewise, that if the mayors and clerks commit any fraud 
or consent to it, the proper punishment be inflicted upon them, 
and that a penalty be likewise imposed upon those settlers 
who do not report in full the whole amount of the gold which is 
in their possession. 

Likewise, that there be a treasurer ^ in the said island, who 

* As the King and Queen on May 7, 1493, appointed Gomez Tello to go 
with Columbus on the second voyage to act as receiver of the royal dues, 
Thacher argues strongly, on the ground that this recommendation presumably 
antedates the appointment of a treasurer, that this letter of Columbus's 
was written earlier than May 7, 1493. 



276 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

shall receive all the gold belonging to your Highnesses, and 
shall have a clerk to make and keep the proper record of the 
receipts, and that the mayors and clerks of the respective towns 
be given the proper vouchers for everything which they may 
deUver to the said treasurer. 

Likewise, that whereas the extreme anxiety of the colo- 
nists to gather gold may induce them to neglect all other busi- 
ness and occupations, it seems to me that prohibition should 
be made to them to engage in the search of gold during some 
season of the year, so as to give all other business, profitable 
to the island, an opportunity to be established and carried on. 

Likewise, that as far as the business of discovering other 
lands is concerned,^ it is my opinion that permission to do 
so should be given to everyone who desires to embark in it, 
and that some liberality should be shown in reducing the fifth 
to be given away, so as to encourage as many as possible for 
entering into such undertakings. 

And now I shall set forth my opinion as to the manner of 
sending vessels to the said Spanish Island, and the regulation 
of this subject which must be made, which is as follows : That 
no vessels should be allowed to unload their cargoes except 
at one or two ports designated for that purpose, and that a 
record should be made of all that they carry and unload ; and 
that no vessels should be allowed either to leave the island 
except from the same ports, after a record has been made also 
of all that they have taken on board, so that nothing can be 
concealed. 

Likewise, in regard to the gold to be brought from the island 
to Castile, that the whole of it, whether belonging to your 
Highnesses or to some private individual, must be kept in a 
chest, with two keys, one to be kept by the master of the vessel 
and the other by some person chosen by the governor and the 
treasurer, and that an official record must be made of every- 

* Such an authorization was given by the sovereigns, April 10, 1495, reserv- 
ing Columbus's rights to one-eighth of the trade. Navarrete, II. 166-167. 
The Admiral protested that this authorization led to infringement of his 
rights and it was in so far revoked, June 2, 1497. 



1493] LETTER CONCERNING ESPAS'OLA 277 

thing put in the said chest, in order that each one may have 
what is his, and that any other gold, much or httle, found 
outside of the said chest in any manner be forfeited to the 
benefit of your Highnesses, so as to cause the transaction to 
be made faithfully. 

Likewise, that all vessels coming from the said island must 
come to unload to the port of Cadiz, and that no person shall 
be allowed to leave the vessels or get in them until such person 
or persons of the said city as may be appointed for this purpose 
by your Highnesses go on board the same vessels, to whom 
the masters must declare all that they have brought, and show 
the statement of everything they have in the cargoes, so that 
it may be seen and proved whether the said ships have brought 
anything hidden and not declared in the manifests at the time 
of shipment. 

Likewise, that in the presence of the Justice of the said 
city of Cadiz and of whosoever may be deputed for the purpose 
by your Highnesses, the said chest shall be opened in which 
the gold is to be brought and that to each one be given what 
belongs to him.^ 

May your Highnesses keep me in their minds, while I, on 
my part, shall ever pray to God our Lord to preserve the lives 
of your Highnesses and enlarge their dominions. 

S. 

S.A.S. 
X.M.Y. 
Xpo Ferens.^ 

Sent by the admiral. 

^ On the development of the fiscal and commercial regulations of the 
Spanish colonial administration, see Bourne, Spain in America, pp. 282-301 
and 337 ; Moses, Establishment of Spanish Rule in America, pp. 27-67. 

^ The formal signature of Columbus which he enjoined upon his heir in 
his deed of entail, February 28, 1498. See P. L. Ford, Writings of Christopher 
Columbus, p. 90. If this letter was written, as is supposed, in 1493, this is 
the earliest use of this monogram. Its meaning has never been determined. 
The various conjectures are presented by Thacher, Christopher Columbiis, 
III. 454-458. 



LETTER OF DR. CHANCA ON THE SEC- 
OND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS 



INTRODUCTION 

Dr. Chanca of Seville volunteered to go to the Indies, 
and on May 23, 1493, the King and Queen appointed him 
surgeon (Navarrete, Viages, II. 54). This letter was written 
to the cabildo or town council of Seville and is the first narra- 
tive of one of Columbus's voyages that we have exactly as it 
was written by a private observer. It is also the first descrip- 
tion of the natives that we have from an observer of 
scientific training. The original text was first printed by 
Navarrete in his Viages in 1825. The original manuscript 
or a copy came into the possession of the historian Ber- 
naldez, who embodied it with a few trifling changes and 
omissions in his Historia de Los Reyes Catolicos, chs. cxix., 
cxx. (Seville ed., 1870), Vol. II., pp. 5-36. 

Columbus kept a journal on this voyage which is no longer 
extant. Abridgments of it are preserved to us in the Historie 
of Ferdinand Columbus and in the Historia de las Indias of 
Las Casas. There are other contemporary narratives of the 
voyage from private hands, but they are either made up from 
conversations with those who went on the voyage, like the 
letters of Simone Verde, printed in Harrisse, Christophe Co- 
lomb, 11. 68-78, or the account in Books ii. and iii. of the first 
decade of Peter Martyr's De Rebus Oceanicis, or a hterary 
embelKshment of some private letters hke the translation into 
Latin by Nicolo Syllacio of some letters he received from 
Guillelmo Coma who went on the voyage. The Syllacio- 
Coma letter and Peter Martyr's account in its earhest pub- 
hshed form, the Venetian Libretto de tutta la Navigatione de Re 

281 



282 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 

de Spagna de le hole et Terreni novamente Trovati, are acces- 
sible in English in Thacher, Christopher Columbus, II. 243-262, 
489-502. These two narratives gave the European pubHc its 
first knowledge of the second voyage. The Syllacio-Coma 
letter was published late in 1494 or early in 1495, and the 
Libretto in Venice in 1504. 

The translation of Dr. Chanca's letter given here is that of 
R. H. Major. It has been carefully revised to bring it into 
closer conformity to the original. Any noteworthy changes 
will be indicated. Attention may be called to a somewhat 
important correction of the text on p. 304. 

Of Dr. Chanca personally little or nothing is known be- 
yond what has been mentioned except that he devoted him- 
self with zeal and self-sacrifice to his duties. In the report of 
the Second Voyage which Columbus prepared January 30, 
1494, and sent off by Antonio de Torres February 2, he charged 
Torres as follows in regard to Dr. Chanca. '^You will inform 
their Highnesses of the labor that Dr. Chanca is performing 
on account of the many that are ill and the lack of supplies 
and that with all this he is conducting himself with great dili- 
gence and kindness in everything that concerns his duties," 
etc. Major, Select Letters of Columbus, pp. 93, 94. 

E. G. B. 



LETTER OF DR. CHANCA ON THE 
SECOND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS 

A letter addressed to the Town Council of Seville by Dr. Chanca, 
a native of that city, and physician to the fleet of Columbus, 
on his second voyage to the Indies, describing the principal 
events which occurred during that voyage 

Most noble Lord : — 

Since the occurrences which I relate in private letters to 
other persons are not of such general interest as those which 
are contained in this epistle, I have resolved to give you a 
distinct narrative of the events of our voyage, as well as to 
treat of the other matters which form the subject of my peti- 
tion to your Lordship. The news I have to communicate are 
as follows: The expedition which their Catholic Majesties 
sent, by Divine permission, from Spain to the Indies, under 
the command of Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean, 
left Cadiz on the twenty-fifth of September, of the year [1493, 
with seventeen ships well equipped and with 1200 fighting 
men or a little less,]^ with wind and weather favorable for the 
voyage. This weather lasted two days, during which time we 
managed to make nearly fifty leagues; the weather then 
changing, we made little or no progress for the next two days ; 
it pleased God, however, after this, to restore us fine weather, 
so that in two days more we reached the Great Canary. Here 
we put into harbor, which we were obliged to do, to repair 
one of the ships which made a great deal of water ; we remained 
all that day, and on the following set sail again, but were 
several times becalmed, so that we were four or five days 

* There is a gap here in the text of the original which has been filled 
by taking the corresponding words in Bernaldez's text. 

283 



284 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

before we reached Gomera. We had to remain at Gomera 
some days ^ to lay in our stores of meat, wood, and as much 
water as we could stow, preparatory to the long voyage which 
we expected to make without seeing land: thus through the 
delay at these two ports, and being calmed one day after leav- 
ing Gomera, we were nineteen or twenty days before we 
arrived at the island of Ferro. After this we had, by the 
goodness of God, a return of fine weather, more continuous 
than any fleet ever enjoyed during so long a voyage, so that 
leaving Ferro on the thirteenth of October, within twenty 
days we came in sight of land ; and we should have seen it in 
fourteen or fifteen days, if the ship Capitana ^ had been as 
good a sailer as the other vessels ; for many times the others 
had to shorten sail, because they were leaving us much behind. 
During all this time we had great good fortune, for throughout 
the voyage we encountered no storm, with the exception of 
one on St. Simon's eve,^ which for four hours put us in consid- 
erable jeopardy. 

On the first Sunday after All Saints, namely the third of 
November, about dawn, a pilot of the flagship cried out, 
''The reward, I see the land !" 

The joy of the people was so great, that it was wonderful 
to hear their cries and exclamations of pleasure ; and they had 
good reason to be delighted ; for they had become so wearied 
of bad living, and of working the water out of the ships, that 
all sighed most anxiously for land. The pilots of the fleet 
reckoned on that day, that between leaving Ferro and first 
reaching land, we had made eight hundred leagues; others 
said seven hundred and eighty (so that the difference was not 
great), and three hundred more between Ferro and Cadiz, 
making in all eleven hundred leagues ; I do not therefore feel 

^ Major here translated algun dia "one day." It should be "some days." 
Bernaldez has algunos dias, and Coma says the tarry at Gomera was nearly 
six days. 

^ La nao Capitana means the flagship. The name of the flagship on the 
second voyage was Marigalante. Historie of Ferdinand Columbus, cap. 
XLV. (London, ed. 1867), p. 137. 

» October 27. 



1493] DR. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 285 

as one who had not seen enough of the water. On the morning 
of the aforesaid Sunday, we saw lying before us an island, and 
soon on the right hand another appeared : the first ^ was high 
and mountainous, on the side nearest to us; the other ^ 
flat, and very thickly wooded. As soon as it became lighter, 
other islands began to appear on both sides ; so that on that 
day, there were six islands to be seen lying in different direc- 
tions, and most of them of considerable size. We directed 
our course towards that which we had first seen, and reaching 
the coast, we proceeded more than a league in search of a 
port where we might anchor, but without finding one; all 
that part of the island which met our view, appeared moun- 
tainous, very beautiful, and green even up to the water, which 
was delightful to see, for at that season, there is scarcely any 
thing green in our own country. When we found that there 
was no harbor there, the Admiral decided that we should go 
to the other island, which appeared on the right, and which 
was at four or five leagues distance ; one vessel however still 
remained on the first island all that day seeking for a harbor, 
in case it should be necessary to return thither. At length, 
having found a good one, where they saw both people and 
dwellings, they returned that night to the fleet, which had put 
into harbor at the other island,^ and there the Admiral, accom- 
panied by a great number of men, landed with the royal banner 
in his hands, and took formal possession on behalf of their 
Majesties. This island was filled with an astonishingly thick 
growth of wood ; the variety of unknown trees, some bearing 
fruit and some flowers, was surprising, and indeed every spot 
was covered with verdure. We found there a tree whose leaf 
had the finest smell of cloves that I have ever met with ; it was 
like a laurel leaf, but not so large : but I think it was a species of 
laurel. There were wild fruits of various kinds, some of which 
our men, not very prudently, tasted ; and upon only touching 

^ The island of Dominica, which is so called from having been discovered 
on a Sunday. Historie, p. 137. 

'^ The island Marigalante, which was so called from the name of the ship 
in which Columbus sailed. Historie, ibid. 

^ Marigalante. 



286 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

them with their tongues, their countenances became inflamed/ 
and such great heat and pain followed, that they seemed to 
be mad, and were obliged to resort to refrigerants to cure 
themselves. We found no signs of any people in this island, 
and concluded it was uninhabited; we remained only two 
hours, for it was very late when we landed, and on the follow- 
ing morning we left for another very large island,^ situated 
below this at the distance of seven or eight leagues. We 
approached it under the side of a great mountain, that seemed 
almost to reach the skies, in the middle of which rose a peak, 
higher than all the rest of the mountain, whence many streams 
diverged into different channels, especially towards the part 
at which we arrived. At three leagues distance, we could see 
a fall of water as broad as an ox, which discharged itself from 
such a height that it appeared to fall from the sky ; it was seen 
from so great a distance that it occasioned many wagers to 
be laid on board the ships, some maintaining that it was but 
a series of white rocks, and others that it was water. When 
we came nearer to it, it showed itself distinctly, and it was 
the most beautiful thing in the world to see from how great 
a height and from what a small space so large a fall of water 
was discharged. As soon as we neared the island the Admiral 
ordered a light caravel to run along the coast to search for a 
harbor; the captain put into land in a boat, and seeing some 
houses, leapt on shore and went up to them, the inhabitants 
fleeing at sight of our men; he then went into the houses 
and there found various household articles that had been left 
unremoved, from which he took two parrots, very large and 
quite different from any we had before seen; he found a 
great quantity of cotton, both spun and prepared for spinning, 
and articles of food, of all of which he brought away a por- 
tion; besides these, he also brought away four or five bones 
of human arms and legs. On seeing these we suspected that 

* One would infer from this that it was the fruit of the manzanillo, which 
produces similar effects. (Navarrete.) On the Manzanillo (Manchineel), see 
Oviedo, lib. ix., cap. xii. He says the Caribs used it in making their 
arrow poisons. 

^ Guadeloupe. 



U93] DR. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 287 

we were amongst the Caribbee islands, whose inhabitants eat 
human flesh ; for the Admiral, guided by the information re- 
specting their situation which he had received from the 
Indians of the islands discovered in his former voyage, had 
directed his course with a view to their discovery, both be- 
cause they were the nearest to Spain, and because this was 
the direct track for the island of Espanola, where he had left 
some of his people. Thither, by the goodness of God and the 
wise management of the Admiral, we came in as straight a 
track as if we had sailed by a well known and frequented 
route. This island is very large, and on the side where we 
arrived it seemed to us to be twenty-five leagues in length. 
We sailed more than two leagues along the shore in search of 
a harbor; on the part towards which we moved appeared 
very high mountains, and on that which we left extensive 
plains ; on the sea-coast there were a few small villages, whose 
inhabitants fled as soon as they saw the sails : at length after 
proceeding two leagues we found a port late in the evening. 
That night the Admiral resolved that some of the men should 
land at break of day in order to confer with the natives, and 
learn what sort of people they were; although it was sus- 
pected, from the appearance of those who had fled at our 
approach, that they were naked, like those whom the Admiral 
had seen in his former voyage. That morning certain captains 
started out; one of them arrived at the dinner hour, and 
brought away a boy of about fourteen years of age, as it after- 
wards appeared, who said that he was one of the prisoners 
taken by these people. The others . divided themselves, and 
one party took a little boy whom a man was leading by the 
hand, but who left him and fled ; this boy they sent on board 
immediately with some of our men ; others remained, and took 
certain women, natives of the island, together with other women 
from among the captives who came of their own accord. One 
captain of this last company, not knowing that any intelli- 
gence of the people had been obtained, advanced farther into 
the island and lost himself, with the six men who accompanied 
him : they could not find their way back until after four days, 



288 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

when they hghted upon the sea-shore, and following the line 
of coast returned to the fleet/ We had already looked upon 
them as killed and eaten by the people that are called Carib- 
bees; for we could not account for their long absence in any 
other way, since they had among them some pilots who by 
their knowledge of the stars could navigate either to or from 
Spain, so that we imagined that they could not lose themselves 
in so small a space. On this first day of our landing several 
men and women came on the beach up to the water's edge, 
and gazed at the ships in astonishment at so novel a sight; 
and when a boat pushed on shore in order to speak with them, 
they cried out, "tayno, tayno," ^ which is as much as to say, 
''good, good," and waited for the landing of the sailors, 
standing by the boat in such a manner that they might escape 
when they pleased. The result was, that none of the men 
could be persuaded to join us, and only two were taken by 
force, who were secured and led away. More than twenty 
women of the captives were taken with their own consent, 
and other women, natives of the island, were surprised and 
carried off; several of the boys, who were captives, came to 
us fleeing from the natives of the island who had taken them 
prisoners. We remained eight days in this port in conse- 
quence of the loss of the aforesaid captain, and went many 
times on shore, passing amongst the dwellings and villages 
which were on the coast ; we found a vast number of human 
bones and skulls hung up about the houses, hke vessels in- 

* It was Diego Marquez, the inspector, who with eight other men went 
on shore into the interior of the island, without permission from the Admiral, 
who caused him to be sought for by parties of men with trumpets, but 
without success. One of those who were sent out with this object was 
Alonzo Ojeda, who took with him forty men, and on their return they re- 
ported that they had found many aromatic plants, a variety of birds, and 
some considerable rivers. The wanderers were not able to find their way 
to the ships until the 8th of November. [Navarrete, condensed from Las 
Casas, Historia de las Indias, II. 7-8.] 

' Tayno was also the tribal name of these people, who differentiated them- 
selves from the Caribs. Peter Martyr reports the assertions of the followers 
of Guacamari that they were Taynos not Caribs : "Se Tainos, id est, nobiles 
esse, non Canibales, inclamitant." De Rebus Oceanicis, Dec. i., lib. ii., 
p. 25. (Cologne ed. of 1574.) 



1493] DR. CHANG A OK THE SECOND VOYAGE 289 

tended for holding various things/ There were very few 
men to be seen liere, and the women informed us that this was 
in consequence of ten canoes having gone to make an attack 
upon other islands. These islanders appeared to us to be 
more civihzed than those that we had hitherto seen; for 
although all the Indians have houses of straw, yet the houses 
of these people are constructed in a much superior fashion, 
are better stocked with provisions, and exhibit more evidences 
of industry, both on the part of the men and the women. 
They had a considerable quantity of cotton, both spun and 
prepared for spinning, and many cotton sheets, so well woven 
as to be no way inferior to those of our country. We inquired 
of the women, who were prisoners in the island, what people 
these islanders were ; they replied that they were Caribbees. 
As soon as they learned that we abhorred such people,^ on 
account of their evil practice of eating human flesh, they were 
much delighted ; and, after that, if they brought forward any 
woman or man of the Caribbees, they informed us (but se- 
cretly) that they were such, still evincing by their dread of 
their conquerors, that they belonged to a vanquished nation, 
though they knew them all to be in our power. 

We were enabled to distinguish which of the women were 
Caribbees, and which were not, by the Caribbees wearing 
on each leg two bands of woven cotton, the one fastened round 
the knee, and the other round the ankle ; by this means they 
make the calves of their legs large, and the above-mentioned 
parts very small, which I imagine that they regard as a mark 
of elegance: by this pecuharity we distinguished them.^ 

^ Las Casas, Historia de las Indias, H. 8, remarks of these bones, "They 
must have belonged to lords or persons whom they loved since it is not 
probable that they belonged to those they ate, because if they ate as many as 
some say, the cabins would not hold all the bones and skulls, and it seems 
that after having eaten them there would be no object in keeping the skulls 
and bones for relics unless they belonged to some very notable enemies. 
The whole matter is a puzzle." 

^ The name Caribe here obviously has begun to have the meaning " can- 
nibal," which is in origin the same word. 

' This practice still survives among the Caribs. Im Thurn describes it in 
almost the same words asDr.Chanca. 8ee Among the Indians of Guiana, p. 192. 



290 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

The habits of these Caribbees are brutal. There are three 
islands: this is called Turuqueira; the other, which was the 
first that we saw, is called Ceyre ; the third is called Ayay : ^ 
all these are alike as if they were of one race, who do no injury 
to each other ; but each and all of them wage war against the 
other neighboring islands, and for the purpose of attacking 
them, make voyages of a hundred and fifty leagues at sea, with 
their numerous canoes, which are a small kind of craft with one 
mast. Their arms are arrows, in the place of iron weapons, 
and as they have no iron, some of them point their arrows 
with tortoise-shell, and others make their arrow-heads of fish 
spines, which are naturally barbed like coarse saws: these 
prove dangerous weapons to a naked people hke the Indians, 
and may- cause death or severe injury, but to men of our 
nation, are not very formidable. In their attacks upon the 
neighboring islands, these people capture as many of the 
women as they can, especially those who are young and beau- 
tiful, and keep them for servants and to have as concubines; 
and so great a number do they carry off, that in fifty houses 
no men were to be seen; and out of the number of the cap- 
tives, more than twenty were young girls. These women 
also say that the Caribbees use them with such cruelty as would 
scarcely be beheved; and that they eat the children which 
they bear to them, and only bring up those which they have 
by their native wives. Such of their male enemies as they can 
take alive, they bring to their houses to slaughter them, and 
those who are killed they devour at once. They say that 
man's flesh is so good, that there is nothing like it in the world ; 
and this is pretty evident, for of the bones which we found 
in their houses, they had gnawed everything that could be 
gnawed, so that nothing remained of them, but what from its 
great hardness, could not be eaten: in one of the houses we 
found the neck of a man, cooking in a pot. When they take 
any boys prisoners, they cut off their member and make use 

* These are the native names for Dominica (Ceyre) and Guadeloupe 
(Turuqueira and Ayay), which consists of two islands separated by a narrow 
channel. 



U93J DE. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 291 

of them as servants until they grow up to manhood, and then 
when they wish to make a feast they kill and eat them ; for 
they say that the flesh of boys and women is not good to eat. 
Three of these boys came fleeing to us thus mutilated. 

At the end of four days arrived the captain who had lost 
himself with his companions, of whose return we had by this 
time given up all hope ; for other parties had been twice sent 
out to seek him, one of which came back on the same day 
that he rejoined us, without having gained any information 
respecting the wanderers; we rejoiced at their arrival, re- 
garding it as a new accession to our numbers. The captain 
and the men who accompanied him brought back some women 
and boys, ten in number. Neither this party, nor those who 
went out to seek them, had seen any of the men of the island, 
which must have arisen either from their having fled, or pos- 
sibly from there being but very few men in that locality ; for, 
as the women informed us, ten canoes had gone away to make 
an attack upon the neighboring islands. The wanderers had 
returned from the mountains in such an emaciated condition, 
that it was distressing to see them ; when we asked them how 
it was that they lost themselves, they said that the trees were 
so thick and close that they could not see the sky; some 
of them who were mariners had climbed the trees to get a 
sight of the stars, but could never see them, and if they had not 
found their way to the sea-coast, it would have been impos- 
sible to have returned to the fleet. We left this island eight 
days after our arrival.^ The next day at noon we saw another 
island, not very large, ^ at about twelve leagues distance from 
the one we were leaving; the greater part of the first day of 
our departure we were kept close in to the coast of this island 
by a calm, but as the Indian women whom we brought with 
us said that it was not inhabited, but had been dispeopled by 
the Caribbees, we made no stay in it. On that evening we 
saw another island;^ and in the night finding there were 

* They left on Sunday, the 10th of November. Las Casas, Historia, II. 9. 
^ The island Montserrat. Las Casas, ibid. 
' The island of St. Martin. Las Casas, ibid. 



292 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

some sandbanks near, we dropped anchor, not venturing to 
proceed until the morning. On the morrow another island 
appeared, of considerable size, but we touched at none of these 
because we were anxious to convey consolation to our people 
who had been left in Espafiola; but it did not please God to 
grant us our desire, as will hereafter appear. Another day 
at the dinner hour we arrived at an island which seemed to be 
worth the finding, for judging by the extent of cultivation in 
it, it appeared very populous. We went thither and put into 
harbor, when the Admiral immediately sent on shore a well 
manned barge to hold speech with the Indians, in order to 
ascertain what race they were, and also because we considered 
it necessary to gain some information respecting our course; 
although it afterwards plainly appeared that the Admiral, who 
had never made that passage before, had taken a very correct 
route. But as matters of doubt should always be brought 
to as great a cert-ainty as possible by inquiry, he wished that 
communication should be held with the natives at once, and 
some of the men who went in the barge leapt on shore and went 
up to a village, whence the inhabitants had already withdrawn 
and hidden themselves. They took in this island five or six 
women and some boys, most of whom were captives, hke those 
in the other island ; we learned from the women whom we had 
brought with us, that the natives of this place also were Car- 
ibbees, .As this barge was about to return to the ships with 
the capture which they had made, a canoe came along the 
coast containing four men, two women, and a boy ; and when 
they saw the fleet they were so stupefied with amazement, 
that for a good hour they remained motionless at the distance 
of nearly two cannon shots from the ships. In this position 
they were seen by those who were in the barge and also by all 
the fleet. Meanwhile those in the barge moved towards the 
canoe, but so close in shore, that the Indians, in their perplex- 
ity and astonishment as to what all this could mean, never 
saw them, until they were so near that escape was impos- 
sible ; for our men pressed on them so rapidly that they could 
not get away, although they made considerable effort to do so. 



1493] DR. CHANCA ON" THE SECOND VOYAGE 293 

When the Caribbees saw that all attempt at flight was 
useless, they most courageously took to their bows, both 
women and men ; I say most courageously, because they were 
only four men and two women, and our people were twenty- 
five in number. Two of our men were wounded by the 
Indians, one with two arrow-shots in his breast, and another 
with one in his side, and if it had not happened that they 
carried shields and wooden bucklers, and that they soon got 
near them with the barge and upset their canoe, most of them 
would have been killed with their arrows. After their canoe 
was upset, they remained in the water swimming and occa- 
sionally wading (for there were shallows in that part), still 
using their bows as much as they could, so that our men had 
enough to do to take them; and after all there was one of 
them whom they were unable to secure till he had received a 
mortal wound with a lance, and whom thus wounded they 
took to the ships. The difference between these Caribbees 
and the other Indians, with respect to dress, consists in their 
wearing their hair very long, while the latter have it dipt 
and paint their heads with crosses and a hundred thousand 
different devices, each according to his fancy; which they 
do with sharpened reeds. All of them, both the Caribbees' 
and the others, are beardless, so that it is a rare thing to find 
a man with a beard : the Caribbees whom we took had their 
eyes and eyebrows stained, which I imagine they do from 
ostentation and to give them a more frightful appearance. 
One of these captives said, that in an island belonging to them 
called Cayre ^ (which is the first we saw, though we did not go 
to it), there is a great quantity of gold ; and that if we were 
to take them nails and tools with which to make their canoes, 
we might bring away as much gold as we liked. On the same 
day we left that island, having been there no more than six 
or seven hours ; and steering for another point of land ^ which 
appeared to lie in our intended course, we reached it by night. 
On the morning of the following day we coasted along it, and 

* Dominica. 

* Santa Cruz. November 14. Las Casas, ibid. 



294 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

found it to be a large extent of country, but not continuous, 
for it was divided into more than forty islets/ The land was 
very high and most of it barren, an appearance which we have 
never observed in any of the islands visited by us before or 
since : the surface of the ground seemed to suggest the prob- 
ability of its containing metals. None of us went on shore here, 
but a small latteen caravel went up to one of the islets and 
found in it some fishermen's huts; the Indian women whom 
we brought with us said they were not inhabited. We pro- 
ceeded along the coast the greater part of that day, and on 
the evening of the next we discovered another island called 
Burenquen,^ which we judged to be thirty leagues in length, 
for we were coasting along it the whole of one day. This island 
is very beautiful and apparently fertile; hither the Caribbees 
come with the view of subduing the inhabitants, and often 
carry away many of the people. These islanders have no 
boats nor any knowledge of navigation ; but, as our captives 
inform us, they use bows as well as the Caribbees, and if by 
chance when they are attacked they succeed in taking any of 
their invaders, they will eat them in hke manner as the Car- 
ibbees themselves in the contrary event would devour them. 
We remained two days in this island, and a great number of 
our men went on shore, but could never get speech of the na- 
tives, who had all fled, from fear of the Caribbees. All the 
above-mentioned islands were discovered in this voyage, 
the Admiral having seen nothing of them in his former voyage ; 
they are all very beautiful and possess a most luxuriant soil, 
but this last island appeared to exceed all the others in beauty. 
Here terminated the islands, which on the side towards Spain 
had not been seen before by the Admiral, although we regard 
it as a matter of certainty that there is land more than forty 
leagues beyond the foremost of these newly discovered islands, 
on the side nearest to Spain. We believe this to be the case, 

* The Admiral named the largest of these islands St. Ursula, and all the 
others The Eleven Thousand Virgins. Las Casas, Historia, IL 10. 

^ The island of Porto Rico, to which the Admiral "gave the name of St. 
John the Baptist, which we now call Sant Juan and which the Indians called 
Boriquen." Las Casas, II. 10. 



1493] DR. CHA:N"CA on the second voyage 295 

because two days before we saw land we observed some birds 
called rabihorcados/ marine birds of prey which do not sit 
or sleep upon the water, making circumvolutions in the air 
at the close of evening previous to taking their flight towards 
land for the night. These birds could not be going to settle 
at more than twelve or fifteen leagues distance, because it 
was late in the evening, and this was on our right hand on 
the side towards Spain ; from which we all judged that there 
was land there still undiscovered ; but we did not go in search 
of it, because it would have taken us round out of our intended 
route. I hope that in a few voyages it will be discovered. 
It was at dawn that we left the before-mentioned island of 
Burenquen,^ and on that day before nightfall we caught sight 
of land, which though not recognized by any of those who had 
come hither in the former voyage, we beheved to be Espanola, 
from the information given us by the Indian women whom 
we had with us; and in this island we remain at present.^ 
Between this island and Burenquen another island appeared 
at a distance, but of no great size. When we reached Espanola 
the land, at the part where we approached it, was low and very 
flat,'* on seeing which, a general doubt arose as to its identity ; 
for neither the Admiral nor his companions, on the previous 
voyage, had seen it on this side. 

The island being large, is divided into provinces; the part 
which we first touched at, is called Hayti; another province 
adjoining it, they call Xamana ; ^ and the next province is 
named Bohio,^ where we now are. These provinces are again 
subdivided, for they are of great extent. Those who have 
seen the length of its coast, state that it is two hundred leagues 
long, and I myself should judge it not to be less than a hun- 

' See note to Journal, September 29. Frigate-bird is the accepted 
English name; a species of pelican. 

* Porto Rico. 

^ On Friday, the 22d of November, the Admiral first caught sight of the 
island of Espaflola. Las Casas, II. 10. 

* Cape Engaiio, in the island of Espaiiola. (Navarrete.) 
^ Preserved in the Bay of Samana. 

* See Journal, October 21, and note. 



296 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

dred and fifty leagues: as to its breadth, nothing is hitherto 
known; it is now forty days since a caravel left us with the 
view of circumnavigating it/ and is not yet returned. The 
country is very remarkable, and contains a vast number of 
large rivers, and extensive chains of mountains, with broad 
open valleys, and the mountains are very high ; it does not ap- 
pear that the grass is ever cut throughout the year. I do not 
think they have any winter in this part, for at Christmas were 
found many birds-nests, some containing the young birds, and 
others containing eggs. No four-footed animal has ever been 
seen in this or any of the other islands, except some dogs of 
various colors, as in our own country, but in shape like large 
house-dogs ; ^ and also some little animals, in color and fur 
hke a rabbit, and the size of a young rabbit, with long tails, 
and feet hke those of a rat ; these animals climb up the trees, 
and many who have tasted them, say they are very good to 
eat : ^ there are not any wild beasts. 

There are great numbers of small snakes, and some 
lizards, but not many ; for the Indians consider them as great 
a luxury as we do pheasants; they are of the same size as 
ours, but different in shape. In a small adjacent island ^ 
(close by a harbor called Monte Cristo, where we stayed sev- 
eral days), our men saw an enormous kind of lizard, which 

* Of this voyage of exploration there seems to be no record. Our natural 
sources, the Historie and Las Casas, are silent. Columbus suspended his 
writing in his Journal from December 11, 1493, till March 12, 1494. Antonio 
de Torres sailed for Spain February 2, 1494, when Dr. Chanca sent off his 
letter. Probably this exploration was begun about December 20. 

^ Unos gosques grandes. The French translation has gros carlins, 
"large pug-dogs." Bernaldez calls these dogs, gozcos pequenos, "small 
curs." " Cur " is the common meaning for gozque or gosque. See Oviedo, 
lib. XII., cap. v., for a description of these native dogs which soon became 
extinct. 

^ Bernaldez, II. 34, supplies the native name, Utia. Oviedo, lib. xii., 
cap. I., describes the hutia. When he wrote it had become so scarce as 
to be seen only on rare occasions. It was extinct in Du Tertre's time, a 
century later. Of the four allied species described by Oviedo, the hutia, 
the quemi, the mohuy, and the cori (agouti), only the last has survived to 
the present day. 

* Cabra, or Goat Island, between Puerto de Plata and Cas Rouge Point. 
(Major.) 



1493] DR. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 297 

they said was as large round as a calf, with a tail as long as a 
lance, which they often went out to kill : but bulky as it was, 
it got into the sea, so that they could not catch it/ There are, 
both in this and the other islands, an infinite number of birds 
like those in our own country, and many others such as we 
had never seen. No kind of domestic fowl has been seen here, 
with the exception of some ducks in the houses in Zuruquia; 
these ducks were larger than those of Spain, though smaller 
than geese, — very pretty, with flat crests on their heads, 
most of them as white as snow, but some black. 

We ran along the coast of this island nearly a hundred 
leagues, concluding, that within this range we should find 
the spot where the Admiral had left some of his men, and 
which we supposed to be about the middle of the coast. As 
we passed by the province called Xamana, we sent on shore 
one of the Indians, who had been taken in the previous voy- 
age, clothed, and carrying some trifles, which the Admiral had 
ordered to be given him. On that day died one of our sailors, 
a Biscayan, who had been wounded in the affray with the Car- 
ibbees, when they were captured, as I have already described, 
through their want of caution. As we were proceeding along 
the coast, an opportunity was afforded for a boat to go on 
shore to bury him, the boat being accompanied by two cara- 
vels to protect it. When they reached the shore, a great num- 
ber of Indians came out to the boat, some of them wearing 
necklaces and ear-rings of gold, and expressed a wish to accom- 
pany the Spaniards to the ships ; but our men refused to take 
them, because they had not received permission from the Ad- 
miral. \^Tien the Indians found that they would not take 
them, two of them got into a small canoe, and went up to one 
of the caravels that had put in to shore; they were received 
on board with great kindness, and taken to the Admiral's 
ship, where, through the medium of an interpreter, they re- 
lated that a certain king had sent them to ascertain who we 
were, and to invite us to land, adding that they had plenty 
of gold, and also of provisions, to which we should be welcome. 

' Apparently the cayman or South American alligator. 



298 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

The Admiral desired that shirts, and caps, and other trifles, 
should be given to each of them, and said that as he was going 
to the place where Guacamari dwelt, he would not stop then, 
but that another time there would be an opportunity of see- 
ing him, and with that they departed. We continued our 
route till we came to an harbor called Monte Cristi, where we 
remained two days, in order to observe the character of the 
land ; for the Admiral had an objection to the spot where his 
men had been left with the view of making a settlement. We 
went on shore therefore to see the character of the land : there 
was a large river of excellent water close by ; ^ but the ground 
was inundated, and very ill-calculated for habitation. As 
we went on making our observations on the river and the land, 
some of our men found two dead bodies by the river's side, 
one with a rope round his neck, and the other with one round 
his foot; this was on the first day of our landing. On the 
following day they found two other corpses farther on, and 
one of these was observed to have a great quantity of beard ; 
this was regarded as a very suspicious circumstance by many 
of our people, because, as I have already said, all the Indians 
are beardless. This harbor is twelve leagues ^ from the place 
where the Spaniards had been left under the protection of 
Guacamari,^ the king of that province, whom I suppose to be 
one of the chief men of the island. After two days we set sail 
for that spot, but as it was late when we arrived there,^ and 
there were some shoals, where the Admiral's ship had been lost, 
we did not venture to put in close to the shore, but remained 
that night at a little less than a league from the coast, waiting 
until the morning, when we might enter securely. On that 
evening, a canoe, containing five or six Indians, came out at a 

^ The river Yaque. 

' It is only seven leagues. (Navarrete.) 

' This chief's name is Guacanagari in Las Casas, Historia de las Indias, 
and in the Historie of Ferdinand Columbus, Goathanari in the Syllacio- 
Coma letter, Guacanari in Bernaldez and Guaccanarillus in Peter Martyr's 
De Rebus Oceanicis. 

* The admiral anchored at the entrance of the harbor of Navidad, on 
Wednesday, the 27th of November, towards midnight. Las Casas, 
IL IL 



1493] DR. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 299 

considerable distance from where we were, and approached 
us with great celerity. The Admiral believing that he insured 
our safety by keeping the sails set, would not wait for them ; 
they, however, perseveringly rowed up to us within a can- 
non shot ^ and then stopped to look at us ; but when they saw 
that we did not wait for them, they put back and went away. 
After we had anchored that night at the spot in question,^ 
the Admiral ordered two cannons to be fired, to see if the 
Spaniards, who had remained with Guacamari, would fire in 
return, for they also had cannons with them; but when we 
received no reply, and could not perceive any fires, nor the 
slightest symptom of habitations on the spot, the spirits of 
our people became much depressed, and they began to enter- 
tain the suspicion which the circumstances were naturally 
calculated to excite. While all were in this desponding mood, 
and when four or five hours of the night had passed away, the 
same canoe which we had seen in the evening, came up, and 
the Indians with a loud voice addressed the captain of the 
caravel, which they first approached, inquiring for the Ad- 
miral ; ^ they were conducted to the Admiral's vessel, but would 
not go on board till he had spoken to them, and they had 
asked for a light, in order to assure themselves that it was he 
who conversed with them. One of them was a cousin of 
Guacamari, who had been sent by him once before: it ap- 
peared, that after they had turned back the previous evening, 
they had been charged by Guacamari with two masks of gold 
as a present ; one for the Admiral, the other for a captain who 
had accompanied him on the former voyage. They remained 
on board for three hours, talking with the Admiral in the 
presence of all of us, he showing much pleasure in their con- 
versation, and inquiring respecting the welfare of the Span- 
iards whom he had left behind. Guacamari's cousin replied, 
that those who remained were all well, but that some of them 

^ See Journal of First Voyage, December 25. 

' The Bay of Caracol, four leagues west of Fort Dauphin. (Major.) 

' "Toward midnight a canoe came full of Indians and reached the ship 

of the Admiral, and they called for him saying 'Almirante, Almirante. '" 

Las Casas, II. 11. 



300 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

had died of disease, and others had been killed in quarrels that 
had arisen amongst them; and that Guacamari was at some 
distance, lying ill of a wound in his leg, which was the occa- 
sion of his not appearing, but that he would come on the next 
day. He said also that two kings named Caonabo and May- 
reni, had come to fight with him and that they had burned the 
village. The Indians then departed, saying they would return 
on the following day with the said Guacamari, and left us 
consoled for that night. On the morning of the next day, we 
were expecting that Guacamari would come; and, in the 
meantime, some of our men landed by command of the Ad- 
miral, and went to the spot where the Spaniards had formerly 
been: they found the building which they had inhabited, 
and which they had in some degree fortified with a palisade, 
burnt and levelled with the ground; they found also some 
cloaks and clothing which the Indians had brought to throw 
upon the house. They observed too that the Indians who 
were seen near the spot, looked very shy, and dared not ap- 
proach, but, on the contrary, fled from them. This appeared 
strange to us, for the Admiral had told us that in the former 
voyage, when he arrived at this place, so many came in canoes 
to see us, that there was no keeping them off ; and as we now 
saw that they were suspicious of us, it gave us a very unfav- 
orable impression. We threw trifles, such as hawk bells ^ and 
beads, towards them, in order to concihate them, but only four, 
a relation of Guacamari 's and three others, took courage to 
enter the boat, and were rowed on board. When they were 
asked concerning the Spaniards, they replied that all of them 
were dead ; we had been told this already by one of the Ind- 
ians whom we had brought from Spain, and who had con- 
versed with the two Indians that on the former occasion came 
on board with their canoe, but we had not believed it. Gua- 
camari's kinsman was asked who had killed them; he re- 
plied that the king of Caonabo and king Mayreni had made an 
attack upon them, and burnt the buildings on the spot, that 

' The hawk bell was a small open bell used in hawking. The discoverers 
used hawk bells as a small measure as of gold dust. 



1493] DE. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 301 

many were wounded in the affray, and among them Guacamari, 
who had received a wound in his thigh, and had retired to 
some distance. He also stated that he wished to go and fetch 
him ; upon which some trifles were given to him, and he took 
his departure for the place of Guacamari's abode. All that 
day we remained in expectation of them, and when we saw 
that they did not come, many suspected that the Indians who 
had been on board the night before, had been drowned; for 
they had had wine given them two or three times, and they 
had come in a small canoe that might be easily upset. The next 
morning the Admiral went on shore, taking some of us with 
him ; we went to the spot where the settlement had been, and 
found it utterly destroyed by fire, and the clothes of the 
Spaniards lying about upon the grass, but on that occasion 
we saw no dead body. There were many different opinions 
amongst us; some suspecting that Guacamari himself was 
concerned in the betrayal and death of the Christians ; others 
thought not, because his own residence was burnt : so that it 
remained a very doubtful question. The Admiral ordered all 
the ground which had been occupied by the fortifications of 
the Spaniards to be searched, for he had left orders with them 
to bury all the gold that they might get. While this was 
being done, the Admiral wished to examine a spot at about a 
league's distance, which seemed to be suitable for building a 
town, for it was already time to do so; — and some of us 
went thither with him, making our observations of the land 
as we went along the coast, until we reached a village of seven 
or eight houses, which the Indians forsook when they saw us 
approach, carrying away what they could, and leaving the 
things which they could not remove, hidden amongst the grass, 
around the houses. These people are so like beasts that they 
have not even the sense to select a fitting place to live in; 
those who dwell on the shore, build for themselves the most 
miserable hovels that can be imagined, and all the houses are 
so covered with grass and dampness, that I am amazed at the 
way they live. In these houses we found many things belong- 
ing to the Spaniards, which it could not be supposed they 



302 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

would have bartered ; such as a very handsome Moorish mantle, 
which had not been unfolded since it was brought from Spain, 
stockings and pieces of cloth, also an anchor belonging to the 
ship which the Admiral had lost here on the previous voyage ; 
with other articles, which the more confirmed our suspicions. 
On examining some things which had been put away to keep 
in a basket, closely woven and very secure, we found a man's 
head kept with great care; this we judged might be the 
head of a father, or mother, or of some person whom they 
much regarded : ^ I have since heard that many were found in 
the same state, which makes me beheve that our first impres- 
sion was the true one. After this we returned. We went 
on the same day to the site of the settlement; and when we 
arrived, we found many Indians, who had regained their 
courage, bartering gold with our men: they had bartered to 
the extent of a mark ; ^ we also learned that they had shown 
where the bodies of eleven of the dead Spaniards were laid, 
which were already covered with the grass that had grown 
over them ; and they all with one voice asserted that Caonabo 
and Mayreni had killed them; but notwithstanding all this, 
we began to hear complaints that one of the Spaniards had 
taken three women to himself, and another four ; from whence 
we drew the inference that jealousy was the cause of the mis- 
fortune that had occurred. On the next morning, as no spot 
in that vicinity appeared suitable for our making a settle- 
ment, the Admiral ordered a caravel to go in one direction to 
look for a convenient locality, while some of us went with him 
another way. In the course of our explorations, we discov- 
ered a harbor, of great security, and a very favorable situation 
for a settlement ; but as it was far from where we wanted to 
have the gold mine, the Admiral decided to settle only in some 
spot which would give us greater certainty of attaining that 
object, provided the position of the land should prove equally 

* See above, p. 289, note 1. 

^ The mark was a weight of eight ounces, two-thirds of a Troy pound. 
The mark of gold in Spain was equivalent to 50 castellanos, or in bullion 
value to-day about $150. 



1493] DR. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 303 

convenient. On our return, we found the other caravel ar- 
rived, in which Melchior * and four or five other trustworthy 
men had been exploring with a similar object. They reported 
that as they went along the coast, a canoe came out to them 
in which were two Indians, one of whom was the brother of 
Guacamari, and was recognized by a pilot who was in the 
caravel. When he asked them ''who goes there," they re- 
plied that Guacamari sent to beg the Spaniards to come on 
shore, as he had his settlement near, with nearly fifty houses. 
The chief men of the party then went on shore in the boat, 
proceeded to the place where Guacamari was, and found him 
stretched on his bed, complaining of a severe wound. They 
conferred with him, and inquired respecting the Spaniards; 
his reply was, in accordance with the account already given 
by the others, viz. — that they had been killed by Caonabo 
and Mayreni, who also had wounded him in the thigh ; which 
he showed to them bandaged up : on seeing which, they con- 
cluded that his statement was correct. At their departure 
he gave to each of them a jewel of gold, according to his esti- 
mation of their respective merits. The Indians beat the gold 
into very thin plates, in order to make masks of it, and to be 
able to set it in bitumen ; if it were not so prepared it could not 
be mounted ; other ornaments they make of it, to wear on the 
head and to hang in the ears and nostrils, for these also they 
require it to be thin; since they set no store by it as wealth 
but only for adornment. Guacamari desired them by signs 
and as well as he was able, to tell the Admiral that as he was 
thus wounded, he prayed him to have the goodness to come 
to see him. The sailors told this to the Admiral when he 
arrived. The next morning he resolved to go thither, for the 
spot could be reached in three hours, being scarcely three 
leagues distance from the place where we were; but as it 
would be the dinner-hour when we arrived, we dined before 
we went on shore. After dinner, the Admiral gave orders that 

* Melchior Maldonado, apparently the Melchiorius from whom Peter 
Martyr derived some of his material for his account of the second voyage. 
See his De Rebus Oceanicis, ed. 1574, p. 26. 



304 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

all the captains should come with their barges to proceed to 
the shore, for already on that morning, previous to our de- 
parture, the aforesaid brother of Guacamari had come to speak 
with the Admiral to urge him to come to the place where Gua- 
camari was. Then the Admiral went on shore accompanied 
by all the principal officers, so richly dressed that they would 
have made a fine appearance even in any of our chief cities. 
He took with him some articles as presents, having already 
received from Guacamari a certain quantity of gold, and it 
was reasonable that he should make a commensurate response 
to his acts and expressions of good-will : Guacamari had also 
provided himself with a present. When we arrived, we found 
him stretched upon his bed, which was made of cotton net- 
work, and, according to their custom, suspended.^ He did not 
arise, but made from his bed the best gesture of courtesy of 
which he was capable. He showed much feeling with tears 
in his eyes for the death of the Spaniards, and began speaking 
on the subject, with explaining to the best of his power, how 
some died of disease, others had gone to Caonabo in search of 
the mine of gold, and had there been killed, and that the rest 
had been attacked and slain in their own town. According 
to the appearance of the dead bodies, it was not two months 
since this had happened. Then he presented the Admiral 
with eight marks and a half of gold and five or six belts worked 
with stones ^ of various colors, and a cap of similar jewel- work, 
which I think they must value very highly, because in it was 

' The familiar hammock. 

^ The original reads "cinco o seiscientos labrados de pedreria," which 
Major translated "five or six hundred pieces of jewellery," and Thacher 
"five or six hundred cut stones." The dictionaries recognize labrado as 
a noun only in the plural labrados, "tilled lands." Turning to Bernaldez, 
Historia de los Reyes Catolicos, in which Dr. Chanca's letter was copied almost 
bodily, we find, II. 27, "cinco 6 seis labrados de pedreria," which presents 
the same difficulty. The omission of cientos is notable, however. I think the 
original text of Dr. Chanca's letter read "cinco 6 seis cintos labrados de 
pedreria," i.e., five or six belts worked with jewellery. Cintos being written 
blindly was copied cientos by Antonio de Aspa, from whom our text of Dr. 
Chanca's letter has come down (Navarrete, I. 224), and was omitted perhaps 
accidentally in Bernaldez's copy. This conjecture is rendered almost certain 
by the Historic, where it is recorded that "the Cacique gave the Admiral 



1493] DR. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 305 

a jewel, which was presented to him with great reverence. It 
appears to me that these people put more value upon copper 
than gold. The surgeon of the fleet and myself being present, 
the Admiral told Guacamari that we were skilled in the treat- 
ment of human disorders, and wished that he would shew us 
his wound; he replied that he was wilHng; upon which I 
said it would be necessary that he should, if possible, go out 
of the house, because we could not see well on account of the 
place being darkened by the crowd of people ; to this he con- 
sented, I think more from timidity than inclination, and left 
the house leaning on the arm of the Admiral. After he was 
seated, the surgeon approached him and began to untie the 
bandage ; then he told the Admiral that the wound was made 
with a ciba, by which he meant with a stone. When the 
wound was uncovered, we went up to examine it : it is certain 
that there was no more wound on that leg than on the other, 
although he cunningly pretended that it pained him much. 
Ignorant as we were of the facts, it was impossible to come to 
a definite conclusion. There were certainly many proofs of 
an invasion by a hostile people, so that the Admiral was at a 
loss what to do ; he with many others thought, however, that 
for the present, and until they could ascertain the truth, they 
ought to conceal their distrust ; for after ascertaining it, they 
would be able to claim whatever indemnity they thought 
proper. That evening Guacamari accompanied the Admiral 
to the ships, and when they showed him the horses and other 
objects of interest, their novelty struck him with the greatest 
amazement ; ^ he took supper on board, and returned that 

eight belts worked with small beads made of white, green, and red stones," 
p. 148, London ed. of 1867. This passage enables us to correct the text of 
Las Casas, II. 14, changing "ochocientas cuentas menudas de piedra," 
"eight hundred small beads of stone," to "ocho cintos de cuentas menudas," 
etc., "eight belts of small beads," and again, ciento de oro to cinto dc oro. 
In the Syllacio-Coma letter the gift is halteos duodecim, "twelve belts." 
Thacher, Columbus, II. 235. C/. Las Casas's description of the girdle or 
belt that this chief wore when Columbus first saw him, Dec. 22, above, p. 194. 
' These were not only the first horses seen in the New World since the 
extinction of the prehistoric varieties, but the first large quadrupeds the 
West Indians had seen. 



306 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

evening to his house. The Admiral told him that he wished 
to settle there and to build houses ; to which he assented, but 
said that the place was not wholesome, because it was very 
damp : and so it most certainly was. 

All this passed through the interpretation of two of the 
Indians who had gone to Spain in the last voyage, and who 
were the sole survivors of seven who had embarked with us; 
five died on the voyage, and these but narrowly escaped. 
The next day we anchored in that port: Guacamari sent to 
know when the Admiral intended leaving, and was told that he 
would do so on the morrow. The same day Guacamari 's 
brother, and others with him, came on board, bringing gold 
to barter: on the day of our departure also they bartered a 
great quantity of gold. There were ten women on board, of 
those who had been taken in the Caribbee islands, principally 
from Boriquen, and it was observed that the brother of Gua- 
camari spoke with them ; we think that he told them to make 
an effort to escape that night; for certainly during our first 
sleep they dropped themselves quietly into the water, and 
went on shore, so that by the time they were missed they had 
reached such a distance that only four could be taken by the 
boats which went in pursuit, and these were secured when just 
leaving the water: they had to swim considerably more than 
half a league. The next morning the Admiral sent to desire 
that Guacamari would cause search to be made for the women 
who had escaped in the night, and that he would send them 
back to the ships. When the messengers arrived they found 
the place forsaken and not a soul there; this made many 
openly declare their suspicions, but others said they might 
have removed to another village, as was their custom. That 
day we remained quiet, because the weather was unfavorable 
for our departure. On the next morning the Admiral resolved 
that as the wind was adverse, it would be well to go with the 
boats to inspect a harbor on the coast at two leagues distance 
further up,^ to see if the formation of the land was favorable 
for a settlement ; and we went thither with all the ship's boats, 

^ Port Dauphin. (Navarrete.) 



1493] DE. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 307 

leaving the ships in the harbor. As we moved along the coast 
the people manifested a sense of insecurity, and when we 
reached the spot to which we were bound all the natives had 
fled. While we were walking about this place we found an 
Indian stretched on the hill-side, close by the houses, with a 
gaping wound in his shoulder caused by a dart, so that he had 
been disabled from fleeing any further. The natives of this 
island fight with sharp darts, which they shoot with straps 
in the same manner as boys in Spain shoot their little darts, 
and with these they shoot with considerable skill to a great 
distance ; and certainly upon an unarmed people these weapons 
are calculated to do serious injury. The man told us that 
Caonabo and his people had wounded him and burnt the 
houses of Guacamari. Thus we are still kept in uncertainty 
respecting the death of our people, on account of the paucity 
of information on which to form an opinion, and the conflicting 
and equivocal character of the evidence we have obtained. 
We did not find the position of the land in this port favorable 
for healthy habitation, and the Admiral resolved upon return- 
ing along the upper coast by which we had come from Spain, 
because we had had tidings of gold in that direction. But the 
weather was so adverse that it cost more labor to sail thirty 
leagues in a backward direction than the whole voyage from 
Spain; so that, what with the contrary wind and the length 
of the passage, three months had elapsed when we landed.^ 
It pleased God, however, that through the check upon our 
progress caused by contrary winds, we succeeded in finding the 
best and most suitable spot that we could have selected for a 
settlement, where there was an excellent harbor ^ and abun- 
dance of fish, an article of which we stand in great need from 
the scarcity of meat. The fish caught here are very singular 
and more wholesome than those of Spain. The climate does 

* That is, three months from the time the fleet left Spain, September 25, 
1493. Neither the Historic nor Las Casas mentions the date of landing. 
In the Syllacio-Coma letter the date is given as "eight days from Christmas." 
See Thacher, Columbus, II. 236, 257. 

^ Port Isabelique, or Isabella, ten leagues to the east of Monte Cristi. 
(Navarre te.) 



308 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [U93 

not allow the fish to be kept from one day to another, for it is 
hot and moist, so that all animal food ^ spoils very quickly. 
The land is very rich for all purposes ; near the harbor there 
are two rivers: one large,^ and another of moderate breadth 
somewhat near it ; the water is of a very remarkable quality. 
On the bank of it is being built a city called Marta,^ one side 
of which is bounded by the water with a ravine of cleft rock, 
so that at that part there is no need of fortification ; the other 
half is girt with a plantation of trees so thick that a rabbit could 
scarcely pass through it ; and so green that fire will never be 
able to burn it. A channel has been commenced for a branch 
of the river, which the managers say they will lead through 
the middle of the settlement, and will place on it grist-mills 
and saw-mills and mills of other kinds requiring to be worked 
by water. Great quantities of vegetables have been planted, 
which certainly attain a more luxuriant growth here in eight 
days than they would in Spain in twenty. We are frequently 
visited by numbers of Indians, among whom are some of their 
caciques or chiefs, and many women. They all come loaded 
with ages,'^ which are like turnips, very excellent for food, which 
we dressed in various ways. This food was so nutritious as to 
prove a great support to all of us after the privations we 
endured when at sea, which were more severe than ever were 
suffered by man; for as we could not tell what weather it 
would please God to send us on our voyage, we were obliged 

' Cosas introfatihles in the Spanish. The translation follows the French 
version. The text perhaps is corrupt. The word introfatihles is not found in 
any of the Spanish dictionaries nor is it a learned compound whose meaning 
is apparent from its etymology. Professor H. R. Lang suggests that cosas 
corruptibles may be the proper reading. The sentence is omitted in the 
corresponding passage in Bernaldez, IL 30, 

^ The river Isabella. 

' I can offer no explanation for this name, which is found only in Dr. 
Chan ca's letter. Bernaldez, who copied Dr. Chanca, gives Isabela as the name 
of the city, II. 30, and the Historic and Las Casas, who preserve for us the gist 
of Columbus's own narrative, both say that "he named the city Isabela in 
memory of Queen Isabela." Las Casas, II. 21. Historic, p. 150. 

* Yams, the Dioscorea sativa. Columbus had seen the yam in Guinea and 
applied the African negro name, igname, name, whence the English, yam. 
See note to Journal, November 4. 



1493] DR. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 309 

to limit ourselves most rigorously with regard to food, in order 
that, at all events, we might at least have the means of sup- 
porting life. This age the Caribbees call nahi, and the Indians 
hage} The Indians barter gold, provisions, and everything 
they bring with them, for tips of lacings, beads, and pins, 
and pieces of porringers and dishes. They all, as I have said, 
go naked as they were born, except the women of this island, 
who have their private parts covered, some with a covering 
of cotton, which they bind round their hips, while others use 
grass and leaves of trees.^ When they wish to adorn them- 
selves, both men and women paint themselves, some black, 
others white, and various colors, in so many devices that the 
effect is very laughable ; ^ they shave some parts of their heads, 
and in others wear long tufts of matted hair, which have an 
indescribably ridiculous appearance : in short, whatever would 
be looked upon in our country as characteristic of a madman, 
is here regarded by the highest of the Indians as a mark of 
distinction. 

In our present position, we are in the neighborhood of 
many mines of gold, not one of which, we are told, is more 
than twenty or twenty-five leagues off : the Indians say that 
some of them are in Niti, in the possession of Caonabo, who 
killed the Christians; the others are in another place called 
Cibao, which, if it please God, we shall see with our eyes be- 
fore many days are over ; indeed we should go there at once, 
but that we have so many things to provide that we are not 
equal to it at present. One third of our people have fallen 
sick within the last four or five days, which I think has prin- 
cipally arisen from the toil and privations of the journey; 
another cause has been the variableness of the climate; but 
I hope in our Lord that all will be restored to health. My 
idea of this people is, that if we could converse with them, 

' By the Indians Dr. Chanca means the Tainos, the native inhabitants of 
Espanola. 

^ " Every woman wears a tiny apron called a queyu, suspended by 
tying its strings around her waist." Im Thurn, Among the Indians of 
Guiana, 194. 

' On this body painting, see Im Thurn, ibid. 



310 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

they would all become converted, for they do whatever they 
see us do, making genuflections before the altars at the Ave 
Maria and the other parts of the devotional service, and 
making the sign of the cross. They all say that they wish to 
be Christians, although in truth they are idolaters, for in their 
houses they have many kinds of figures; when asked what 
such a figure was, they would reply it is a thing of Turey, by 
which they meant ''of Heaven." I made a pretence of throw- 
ing them on the fire, which grieved them so that they began 
to weep: they believe that everything we bring comes from 
Heaven, and therefore call it Turey, which, as I have already 
said, means heaven in their language. The first day that I 
went on shore to sleep, was the Lord's day. The little time 
that we have spent on land, has been so much occupied in 
seeking for a fitting spot for the settlement, and in providing 
necessaries, that we have had little opportunity of becoming 
acquainted with the products of the soil, yet although the 
time has been so short, many marvellous things have been 
seen. We have met with trees bearing wool, of a sufficiently 
fine quahty (according to the opinion of those who are ac- 
quainted with the art) to be woven into good cloth ; there are 
so many of these trees that we might load the caravels with 
wool, although it is troublesome to collect, for the trees are 
very thorny,^ but some means may be easily found of over- 
coming this difficulty. There are also cotton trees, perennials, 
as large as peach trees, which produce cotton in the greatest 
abundance.^ We found trees producing wax as good both in 
color and smell as bees- wax and equally useful for burning; 
indeed there is no great difference between them.^ There are 
vast numbers of trees which yield surprisingly fine turpentine ; 

* A species of the N. 0. Bombaceae; perhaps the Eriodendron anjractuosum. 
(Major.) The EngUsh name is silk-cotton tree. The fibre, however, cannot 
be woven. Von Martins suggests the Bombax ceiba. 

^ Cf. Hazard, Santo Domingo, p. 350, "the cotton plant which instead of 
being a simple bush planted from the seed each year, is here a tree, growing 
two or three years, which needs only to be trimmed and pruned to produce 
a large yield of the finest cotton." 

* Probably the so-called Carnauba wax or perhaps palm-tree wax. Cf. 
the Encydopcedia Britannica, art. " Wax." 



1493] DR. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 311 

and there is also a great abundance of tragacanth, also very 
good. We found other trees which I think bear nutmegs, 
because the bark tastes and smells hke that spice, but at pres- 
ent there is no fruit on them ; I saw one root of ginger, which an 
Indian wore hanging round his neck. There are also aloes; 
not like those which we have hitherto seen in Spain, but no 
doubt they are one of the species used by us doctors/ 
A sort of cinnamon also has been found ; but, to tell the truth, 
it is not so fine as that with which we are already acquainted 
in Spain. I do not know whether this arises from ignorance 
of the proper season to gather it, or whether the soil does not 
produce better. We have also seen some lemon-colored 
myrobolans ; at this season they are all lying under the trees, 
and have a bitter flavor, arising, I think, from the rottenness 
occasioned by the moisture of the ground; but the taste of 
such parts as have remained sound, is that of the genuine 
myrobolan.^ There is also very good mastic.^ None of the 
natives of these islands, as far as we have yet seen, possess 
any iron; they have, however, many tools, such as axes 
and adzes, made of stone, which are so handsome and well 
finished, that it is wonderful how they contrive to make them 
without the use of iron. Their food consists of bread, made 
of the roots of a vegetable which is between a tree and a vege- 
table, and the age* which I have already described as being 
Hke the turnip, and very good food; they use, to season it, 
a spice called agi,^ which they also eat with fish, and such 

'■ The Spanish here is linaloe, but the reference seems to be to the medi- 
cinal aloes and not to lign aloes. On lign aloes, see Columbus's Journal, No- 
vember 12, and note. 

^ The myrobolan is an East Indian fruit with a stone, of the prune genus. 
Crude or preserved myrobolans were a more important article of commerce 
in the Middle Ages than now. There were five varieties, one of which, the 
Mirobalani citrini, were so named because they were lemon-colored. Heyd, 
Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen-Age, II. 641. A species of myro- 
bolan grows in South America. 

^ The product of the Bursera gummifera. 

* Cf. Columbus's Journal, November 4, and note. 

^ Agi, also written Axi, is the Capsicum annuum or Spanish pepper. Most 
of the cayenne or red pepper of commerce comes from the allied species, 



312 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1493 

birds as they can catch of the many kinds which abound in the 
island. They have, besides, a kind of grain Hke hazel-nuts, 
very good to eat. They eat all the snakes, and lizards, and 
spiders, and worms, that they find upon the ground ; ^ so that, 
to my fancy, their bestiality is greater than that of any beast 
upon the face of the earth. The Admiral had at one time 
determined to leave the search for the mines until he had 
first despatched the ships which were to return to Spain, on 
account of the great sickness which had prevailed among the 
men,^ but afterwards he resolved upon sending two bands 
under the command of two captains, the one to Cibao, and 
the other to Niti, where, as I have already said, Caonabo 
lived. These parties went, one of them returning on the 
twentieth, and the other on the twenty-first of January. The 
party that went to Cibao saw gold in so many places as to 
seem almost incredible, for in truth they found it in more 
than fifty streamlets and rivers, as well as upon their banks; 
so that, the captain said they had only to seek throughout 
that province, and they would find as much as they wished. 
He brought specimens from the different parts, namely, from 

Capsicum frviescens. In Mexico the name of this indigenous pepper plant 
was QuauhchilH, Chili tree. Chili was taken over into Spanish as the common 
name for capsicum and has come down in Enghsh in the familiar Chili sauce. 
See Peschel, Zeitalter der Entdeckungen, p. 139 ; De Candolle, Origin of 
Cultivated Plards, pp. 289-290. Encyclopcedia Britannica, art. "Cayenne 
Pepper." 

* Cf. Im Thurn, Among the Indians of Guiana, 266. 

* The Admiral, "having described the country at length and the condition 
in which he was and where he had settled for the Catholic sovereigns and 
sending them the specimen of gold which Guacanagari had given him and 
that which Hojeda had brought, and informing them of all that he saw to be 
needed, despatched the twelve ships before mentioned, placing in command 
of them all Antonio de Torres, brother of the nurse of the prince Don Juan, 
to whom he intrusted the gold and all his despatches. They made sail 
the 2d of February, 1494." Las Casas, Historia de las Indias, IL 25-26. 
Columbus's letter to Ferdinand and Isabella mentioned here has not been pre- 
served. That part of it which related to future needs was apparently dupli- 
cated in the " memorial" which he gave to Torres. This document is 
given in English in Thacher, Christopher Columbus, II. 297-308, and Major, 
Select Letters of Christopher Columbus, ed. 1870, pp. 72-107. See p. 73, 
ibid., for a reference to letters of the Admiral no longer extant. 



1493] DR. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE 313 

the sand of the rivers and small springs. It is thought, that 
by digging, it will be found in greater pieces, for the Indians 
neither know how to dig nor have the means of digging more 
than a hand's depth. The other captain, who went to Niti, 
returned also with news of a great quantity of gold in three 
or four places; of which he likewise brought specimens.^ 

Thus, surely, their Highnesses the King and Queen may 
henceforth regard themselves as the most prosperous and 
wealthy sovereigns in the world; never yet, since the crea- 
tion, has such a thing been seen or read of; for on the re- 
turn of the ships from their next voyage, they will be able to 
carry back such a quantity of gold as will fill with amaze- 
ment all who hear of it. Here I think I shall do well to break 
off my narrative. I think those who do not know me, who 
hear these things, may consider me prolix, and a man who has 
exaggerated somewhat, but God is my witness, that I have not 
exceeded, by one tittle, the bounds of truth.^ 

^ Alonso de Hojeda was sent to explore the region of Cibao with fifteen 
men. He found Cibao to be fifteen or twenty leagues from Isabella. The 
other exploring party was headed by Gines de Gorbalan. Further details 
of these expeditions are given in the Syllacio-Coma letter. Thacher, Colum- 
bus, H. 258-260. According to Coma, or his translator Syllacio, Cibao was 
identified with the Sheba of the Bible. Columbus, on the other hand, 
identified Cibao and Cipango. C/., e.g., Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, 
ed. 1574, p. 31. 

^ " The preceding is the transcript of that part of Doctor Chanca's 
letter, which refers to intelligence respecting the Indies. The remainder 
of the letter does not bear upon the subject, but treats of private matters, 
in which Doctor Chanca requests the interference and support of the Town 
Council of Seville (of which city he was a native), in behalf of his family 
and property, which he had left in the said city. This letter reached 
Seville in the month of [March] in the year fourteen hundred and ninety- 
three [four]." This note is no doubt from the hand of Friar Antonio de 
Aspa, who formed the collection of papers in which Navarrete found 
the text of Dr. Chanca's letter. The collection was made about the middle 
of the sixteenth century. See Navarrete, II. 224. The returning fleet 
arrived at Cadiz in March, 1494. Bernaldez, Historia de los Reyes Catolicos, 
(ed. 1870), II. 37. 



NARRATIVE OF THE THIRD VOYAGE OF 

COLUMBUS AS CONTAINED IN LAS 

CASAS'S HISTORY 



INTRODUCTION 

The narrative given here of the third voyage of Columbus 
in which he discovered the mainland of South America is 
taken from the Historia de las Indias of Las Casas. In pre- 
paring his History Las Casas had the use of a larger body of 
Columbus's papers than has come down to us. Among these 
papers was a journal of this third voyage which was incor- 
porated in a condensed form by Las Casas in his History, just 
as he did in the case of the journals of the first and second 
voyages. This narrative is found in the second volume of the 
Historia de las Indias, pp. 220-317. The translation is, as is 
mentioned in the preface to this volume, that given in John 
Boyd Thacher's Christopher Columbus. 

In certain places the text differs slightly from that in the 
printed edition of Las Casas, as Mr. Thacher followed the 
critical text of Cesare de Lollis prepared for the Raccolta 
Colombiana by a collation of the manuscript in the Archives 
at Madrid with the recently discovered autograph manuscript 
of Las Casas. Mr. Thacher, following Lollis, omitted passages 
that were obviously comments on the text by Las Casas. 
These have been suppHed either from Mr. Thacher's notes or 
translated by the editor from the printed text. The editor 
has gone over the whole translation and can testify to its 
exceptional accuracy. A few slight changes have been made 
in the wording for the sake of greater clearness or exactness. 

Columbus described this voyage in a letter to Ferdinand and 
Isabella. This letter is included in Major's Select Letters of 
Columbus and in P. L. Ford's Writings of Columbus. This 

317 



318 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 

letter is of great importance in the study of Columbus's geo- 
graphical ideas. Other contemporary accounts of this voyage 
are contained in Ferdinand Columbus's Historie, the life of his 
father, where the journal abridged by Las Casas is still further 
condensed, in Peter Martyr's De Rehus Oceanicis, Dec. i., 
lib. VI., and in the letter of Simone Verde and the three 
letters of Angelo Trivigiano which will be found in Harrisse, 
Christophe Colomb, II. 95-98 and 119-123. 

E. G. B. 



NARRATIVE OF THE THIRD VOYAGE OF 
COLUMBUS AS CONTAINED IN LAS 
CASAS'S HISTORY 

May 2,{)-August 31, 1498 

He started then (our First Admiral)/ ''in the name of the 
Most Holy. Trinity" (as he says and as he was always ac- 
customed to say) from the port of San Lucar de Barrameda, 
Wednesday, May 30, 1498, with the intention of discovering 
new land not yet discovered, with his six ships, ''greatly 
fatigued,"- he says, "with my voyage, since as I was hoping 
for some quietude, when I left the Indies, I experienced double 
hardships;" they being the result of the labors, new obstacles 
and difficulties with which he obtained the funds for his start- 
ing upon the expedition and the annoyances in connection 
therewith received from the royal officials and the hindrance 
and the evil reports the people around about the Sovereigns 
gave concerning the affairs in the Indies, wherefore it ap- 
peared to him that what he already had done was not suffi- 
cient but that he must renew his labors to gain new credit. 
And because war had then broken out with France,^ he had 
news of a French fleet which was waiting for the Admiral 
beyond the Cape of St. Vincent, to capture him. On this 

* I.e., the first Admiral of the Ocean and the Indies where Las Casas was 
when he was writing. 

' This clause is probably an explanatory remark by Las Casas. It is 
misleading. The war in Naples growing out of the invasion of Italy by 
Charles VIII. of France, in which Ferdinand had taken an active part against 
the French, had been brought to a close so far as concerned France and 
Spain by a truce in March, 1497. The treaty of peace was signed August 5, 
1498. 

319 



320 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

account he decided to steal away as they say and make a 
detour, directing his course straight to the island of Madeira. 

He arrived at the island of Puerto Sancto, Thursday, June 
7, where he stopped to take wood, water and supphes and to 
hear mass, and he found all the island disturbed and all the 
farms, goods and flocks guarded, fearing that the new-comers 
might be French ; and then that night he left for the island of 
Madeira and arrived there the following Sunday, June 10. He 
was very well received in the town ^ and with much rejoicing, 
because he was well known there, having been a citizen thereof 
during some time.^ He remained there six days, providing 
himself fully with water and wood and the other necessities 
for his journey. 

Saturday, June 16, he left the island of Madeira with his 
six ships and arrived at the island of Gomera ^ the following 
Tuesday. At this island he found a French corsair with a 
French vessel and two large ships which the corsair had taken 
from the Castilians, and when the Frenchman saw the six 
vessels of the Admiral he left his anchors and one vessel and 
fled with the other vessel. The Admiral sent a ship after him 
and when the six Spaniards who were being carried away on 
the captured ship saw this ship coming to their aid, they 
attacked six Frenchmen who were guarding them and by force 
they placed them below decks and thus brought them back. 

Here in the island of Gomera the Admiral determined to 
send three ships directly to the island of Espanola, so that, if 
he should be detained here, they might give news of him and 
cheer and console the Christians with the supplies : and prin- 
cipally that they might give joy to his brothers, the Adelan- 

^ Funchal. 

* This positive assertion that Columbus had lived in Funchal, Madeira, 
has been overlooked by Vignaud and Harrisse. Vignaud, Etudes Critiques 
sur la Vie de Colomb avant ses Decouvertes (Paris, 1905), p. 443, note 9, rejects 
as unauthenticated the tradition that Columbus lived in Madeira, without 
adequate grounds it seems to me. Diego Columbus told Las Casas in 1519 
that he was born in the neighboring island of Puerto Santo and that his 
father had lived there. Las Casas, Historia de las Indias, I. 54. This pas- 
sage is not noted by Vignaud. 

' One of the Canary Islands. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 321 

tado ^ and Don Diego, who were very desirous of hearing from 
him. He named Pedro de Arana, a native of Cordova, as 
captain of one ship, — a very honorable and prudent man, 
whom I knew very well, brother of the mother of Don Fer- 
dinand Columbus,^ the second son of the Admiral, and cousin 
of that Arana who remained in the fortress with the 38 men 
whom the Admiral on his return found dead. The other cap- 
tain of the second ship was called Alonso Sanchez de Carvajal, 
governor of the city of BaQca, an honorable gentleman. The 
third captain for the remaining ship was Juan Antonio Co- 
lumbo,^ a Genoese, a relation of the Admiral, a very capable 
and prudent man and one of authority, with whom I had 
frequent conversation. 

He gave them suitable instructions, in which instructions 
he ordered that, one week one captain, and another week an- 
other, each by turns should be captain-general of all the ships, 
as regarded the navigation and the placing of the night lantern, 
which is a lighted lantern placed in the stern of the ship in 
order that the other ships may know and follow where the 
captain guides. He ordered them to go to the west, quarter 
south^west,^ for 850 leagues and told them that then they 
would arrive at the island of Dominica. From Dominica they 
should go west-north-west and they would then reach the 
island of Sant Juan,^ and it would be the southern part of it, 
because that was the direct way to go to the New Isabella,® 

* The Adelantado was Bartholomew Columbus. The title Adelantado was 
given in Spain to the military and political governors of border provinces. 
In this use it was transplanted to America in the earlier days. Cf. Moses, 
The Establishment of Spanish Rule in America, pp. 68-69. 

^ Beatrix Enriquez. 

^ This Juan Antonio Columbo seems to have been a first cousin of the 
admiral. Cf. Markham, Christopher Columbus, pp. 2 and 187. It is to be 
noted that he retained in Spain his family name and did not follow the 
discoverer in changing his name to Colon. On this change of name, see 
above, p. 77, note 2. 

* I.e., west by south. 
^ Porto Rico. 

' Founded in the summer of 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus in ac- 
cordance with the directions of the Admiral to establish a new settlement 
on the south side of the island. Las Casas, II. 136. 



322 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

which now is Santo Domingo. Having passed the island of 
Sant Juan, they should leave the island of Mona to the north 
and from there they should make for the point of this Es- 
panola/ which he called Sant Raphael, which now is the Cabo 
del Engano, from there to Saona, which he says makes a good 
harbor between it and this Espanola. Seven leagues farther 
there is another island, which is called Santa Catherina, and 
from there to the New Isabella, which is the port of Santo 
Domingo, the distance is 25 leagues. And he told the captains 
that wherever they should arrive and land they should pur- 
chase all that they needed by barter and that for the little 
they might give the Indians, although they might be the 
canibales,^ who are said to eat human flesh, they would ob- 
tain what they wished and the Indians would give them all 
that they had ; and if they should undertake to procure things 
by force, the Indians would conceal themselves and remain 
hostile. He says further in the instructions that he was 
going by the Cape Verde Islands (which he says were called 
in ancient times Gorgodes ^ or according to others Hesperides) 
and that he was going in the name, of the Holy Trinity with 
the intention of navigating to the south of these islands so as 
to arrive below the equinoctial line and to follow the course 
to the west until this island of Espanola should lie to the 
northwest, to see if there are islands or lands. ''Our Lord," 
he says, ''guides me and gives me things which may serve 
Him and the King and Queen, our Lords, and which 
may be for the honor of the Christians, for I believe that no 

^ "This Espanola," so frequently repeated, is one of the indications that 
Las Casas was writing in Espanola. 

' Canibales, here used still as a tribal name equivalent to Caribbees. 

^ The correct form of this name is Gargades. Columbus's knowledge of 
them was derived indirectly from Pliny's Natural History, book vi., ch. 
XXXVII., through Cardinal d' Ailly's Imago Mundi. Cj. Columbus's marginal 
note to ch. xxxxi. of that work : " Desitu Gorgodum insule nunc de Capita 
Viride vel Antonii dicitur." RaccoUa Colombiana, parte I., vol. II., p. 395. 
According to Pliny's location of them they were probably the Canaries. 
Pliny's knowledge of the location of the Hesperides is naturally vague, 
but his text would support their identification with the Cape Verde 
Islands. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 323 

one has ever gone this way and that this sea is entirely- 
unknown." ^ And here the Admiral finished his instruc- 
tions. 

Having then taken water and wood and other provisions, 
especially cheese, of which there are many and good ones 
there, the Admiral made sail with his six ships on Thursday, 
June 21, towards the island of Hierro,^ which is distant from 
Gomera about fifteen leagues, and of the seven Canaries is 
the one farthest to the west. Passing it, the Admiral took 
his course with one ship and two caravels for the islands of 
Cape Verde, and dismissed the other three ships in the name 
of the Holy Trinity; and he says that he entreated the Holy 
Trinity to care for him and for all of them ; and at the setting 
of the sun they separated and the three ships took their course 
for this island. Here the Admiral makes mention to the 
Sovereigns of the agreement they had made with the King 
of Portugal that the Portuguese should not go to the west- 
ward of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands, and also mentions 
how the Sovereigns sent for him that he should be present at 
the meetings in regard to the partition,^ and that he could not 
go on account of the grave illness which he had incurred in 
the discovery of the mainland of the Indies, that is to say of 
Cuba, which he always regarded as the mainland even until 
the present time as he could not circumnavigate it. He adds 
further that then occurred the death of Don Juan, before he 
could carry out the matter.^ 

^ In this Columbus was mistaken, although he had no means of knowing 
it in 1498. Vasco da Gama had sailed in that sea the preceding summer. 
Cf. Bourne, Spain in America, p. 72. 

^ Ferro. 

' August 16, 1494, the sovereigns included in the letter despatched to 
Columbus by Torres the essential articles of the Treaty of Tordesillas, signed 
June 7, 1494, and asked him if he could not co-operate in locating the De- 
marcation Line. Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, 11. 155; Harrisse, Diplo- 
matic History of America, pp. 80-81. 

* Columbus's illness began in September, 1494, and it was five months 
before he was fully recovered. Ferdinand Columbus, Historie, ed. 1867, 
p. 177. The death of Prince John took place October 4, 1497. No actual 
scientific conference to locate the line took place till that at Badajoz in 1524. 
See Bourne, Essays in Historical Criticism, pp. 205-211. 



324 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

Then the Admiral continuing on his way arrived at the 
Cape Verde Islands, which according to what he says, have a 
false name, because he never saw anything green but all things 
dry and sterile. The first thing he saw was the island of La 
Sal, Wednesday, June 27: and it is a small island. From 
there he went to another which is called Buenavista and is 
very sterile, where he anchored in a bay, and near it is a very 
small island. To this island come all the lepers of Portugal 
to be cured and there are not more than six or seven houses 
on it. The Admiral ordered the boats to go to land to provide 
themselves with salt and flesh, because there are a great num- 
ber of goats on the island. There came to the ships a steward ^ 
to whom that island belonged, named Roderigo Alonso, notary 
public of the exchequer ^ of the King of Portugal, who offered 
to the Admiral what there was on the island of which he might 
be in need. The Admiral thanked him and ordered that he 
should be given some supphes from Castile, which he enjoyed 
very much. 

Here he relates how the lepers came there to be cured be- 
cause of the great abundance of turtles on that island, which 
commonly are as large as shields. By eating the flesh and 
constantly bathing in the blood of these turtles, the lepers 
become cured. ^ The turtles in infinite number come there 
three months in the year, June, July, and August, from the 
mainland, which is Ethiopia,^ to lay eggs in the sand and with 
the claws and legs they scratch places in the sand and spawn 

* Mayordomo. 

^ Escribano de la hacienda. In 1497 Rodrigo Affonso, a member of the 
king's council, was granted the northern of the two captaincies into which 
Sao Thiago was divided and also the wild cattle on the island of Boavista 
(Buenavista in Spanish). D'Avezac, lies de I'Ajrique (Paris, 1848), p. 218. 
The word ma?/or<iomo, translated " steward, " here stands for the high Por- 
tuguese title of honor Mordomo mdr da Casa Real, a title in its origin similar 
to the majores domus or mayors of the palace of the early French kings. 
Escribano de la hacienda del Rey means rather the king's treasurer. 

' This account of Boavista and its lepers is not noticed in the histories 
of the Cape Verde Islands so far as I know. 

* From Pliny's time through the Middle Ages the name Ethiopia embraced 
all tropical Africa. He calls the Atlantic in the tropics the " Ethiopian Sea." 
Pliny's Natural History, book vi., chs. xxxv. and xxxvi. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 325 

more than five hundred eggs, as large as those of a hen except 
that they have not a hard shell but a tender membrane which 
covers the yolk, like the membrane which covers the yolk of 
the hen's egg after taking off the hard shell. They cover the 
eggs in the sand as a person would do, and there the sun 
hatches them, and the little live turtles come out and then 
run in search of the sea as if they had come out of it alive. 
They take the turtles there in this manner: At night with 
lights which are torches of dry wood, they go searching for 
the track of the turtle which is easily traced, and find the 
turtle tired and sleeping. They come up quickly and turn it 
over with the belly up and leave it, sure that it cannot turn 
itself back, and go in search of another. And the Indians do 
the same in the sea ; if they come upon one asleep and turn it 
over it remains safe for them to take it whenever they wish. 
The Indians, however, have another greater device for taking 
them on the sea, which will be explained God willing when we 
give a description of Cuba.^ 

The healthy persons on that island of Buenavista who lead 
a laborious life were six or seven residents who have no water 
except brackish water from wells and whose employment is to 
kill the big goats and salt the skins and send them to Portugal 
in the caravels which come there for them, of which in one 
year they kill so many and send so many skins that they are 
worth 2000 ducats to the notary public, to whom the island 
belonged. Such a great multitude of goats, male and female, 
have been grown there, from only eight original head. Those 
who hve there neither eat bread nor drink wine during four 
or five months, nor anything else except goat flesh or fish or 
turtles. All this they told to the Admiral. 

He left there Saturday, June 30, at night for the island of 
Santiago, where he arrived on Sunday at the hour of vespers, 
because it is distant 28 leagues : and this is the principal one 
of the Cape Verde Islands. He wished to take from this island 
a herd of black cattle in order to carry them to Espanola as 

' A remark by Las Casas, of which many are interspersed with the material 
from Columbus's Journal of this voyage. 



326 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

the Sovereigns had ordered, and he was there eight days and 
could not get them ; and because the island is very unhealthy 
since men are burned with heat there and his people commenced 
to fall ill, he decided to leave it. The Admiral says again 
that he wishes to go to the south, because he intends with the 
aid of the Most Holy Trinity, to find islands and lands, that 
God may be served and their Highnesses and Christianity 
may have pleasure, and that he wishes to see what was the 
idea of King Don Juan of Portugal, who said that there was 
mainland to the south: and because of this, he says that he 
had a contention with the Sovereigns of Castile, and finally 
the Admiral says that it was concluded that the King of 
Portugal should have 370 leagues to the west from the islands 
of the Azores ^ and Cape Verde, from north to south, from pole 
to pole. And the Admiral says further that the said King 
Don Juan was certain that within those limits famous lands 
and things must be found. ^ Certain principal inhabitants of 
the island of Santiago came to see them and they said that to 
the south-west of the island of Huego, which is one of the 
Cape Verde Islands distant 12 leagues from this, may be seen 
an island, and that the King Don Juan was greatly inclined 
to send to make discoveries to the south-west, and that 
canoes had been found which start from the coast of Guinea 
and navigate to the west with merchandise. Here the Admiral 
says again as if he was speaking with the Sovereigns, — ''He 
that is Three and One guides me by His pity and mercy 
that I may serve Him and give great pleasure to your 
Highnesses and to all Christianity, as was done in the dis- 
covery of the Indies which resounded throughout all the 
world." 

' The Tordesillas line was 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands 
alone. 

^ This reason for the desire of King John of Portugal to have the Demar- 
cation Line moved further west has escaped all the writers on the subject. 
If Columbus reported the king's ideas correctly, we may have here a clew 
to one of the reasons why Cabral went so far to the southwest in 1500 that 
he discovered Brazil when on his voyage to India, and perhaps also one of 
the reasons why Vasco da Gama struck off so boldly into the South Atlantic. 
C/. Bourne, Spain in America, pp. 72, 74. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 327 

Wednesday, July 4, he ordered sail made from that island 
in which he says that since he arrived there he never saw the 
sun or the stars, but that the heavens were covered with 
such a thick mist that it seemed they could cut it with a 
knife and the heat was so very intense that they were tor- 
mented, and he ordered the course laid to the way of the 
south-west, which is the route leading from these islands to 
the south, in the name, he says, of the Holy and Indivisible 
Trinity, because then he would be on a parallel with the land 
of the sierra of Loa ^ and cape of Sancta Ana in Guinea, which 
is below the equinoctial line, where he says that below that 
hne of the world are found more gold and things of value; 
and that after, he would navigate, the Lord pleasing, to the 
west, and from there would go to this Espanola, in which 
route he would prove the theory of the King John aforesaid ; 
and that he thought to investigate the report of the Indians 
of this Espanola who said that there had come to Espanola 
from the south and south-east, a black people who have the 
tops of their spears made of a metal which they call guanin, 
of which he had sent samples to the Sovereigns to have them 
assayed, when it was found that of 32 parts, 18 were of gold, 
6 of silver and 8 of copper. 

Following this course to the south-west he commenced to 
find grasses hke those encountered in the direct way to these 
Indies; and the Admiral says here that after having gone 
480 miles which make 120 leagues, that at nightfall he took 
the latitude and found that the North Star was in five degrees. 
Yet it seems to me that he must have gone more than 200 
leagues, and that the text is in error because it is necessary 
to traverse more than 200 leagues on that course from the 
Cape Verde Islands and Santiago whence he started to put 
a ship within five degrees of the equator, as any sailor will ob- 
serve who will judge it by the map and by the latitude. And 
he says that there, Friday, July 13, the wind deserted him 
and he entered into heat so great and so ardent that he feared 
the ships would take fire and the people perish. The ceasing 

^ Sierra Leone. 



328 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

of the wind and coming of the excessive and consuming heat 
was so unexpected and sudden that there was no person who 
dared to descend below to care for the butts of wine and 
water, which swelled, breaking the hoops of the casks; the 
wheat burned like fire; the pork and salted meat roasted 
and putrefied. This ardent heat lasted eight days. The 
first day was clear with a sun which burned them. God sent 
them less suffering because the seven following days it rained 
and was clouded; however with all this, they could not find 
any hope of saving themselves from perishing and from being 
burned, and if the other seven days had been like the first, 
clear and with the sun, the Admiral says here that it would 
have been impossible for a man of them to have escaped alive. 
And thus they were divinely succored by the coming of some 
showers and by the days being cloudy. He determined from 
this, if God should give him wind in order to escape from this 
suffering, to run to the west some days, and then if he found 
himself in any moderation of temperature to return to the 
south, which was the way he desired to follow. "May our 
Lord," says he, ''guide me and give me grace that I may 
serve Him, and bring pleasing news to your Highnesses." He 
says he remembered, being in this burning latitude, that when 
he came to the Indies in the past voyages, always when he 
reached 100 leagues toward the west from the Azores Islands 
he found a change in the temperature from north to south, 
and for this he wished to go to the west to reach the said 
place. 

The Admiral must have been on that same parallel or rather 
meridian, on which Hanno the Carthaginian was with his 
fleet, who departing from Cadiz and going out into the Ocean 
to the left^ of Lybia or Ethiopia after thirty days' voyaging 
toward the south, among other distresses that he suffered the 
heat and fire were so intense that it seemed as if they were 
roasting ; they heard such thundering and lightning that their 
ears pained them and their eyes were blinded and it appeared 
no otherwise than as if flames of fire fell from heaven. Amianus 
* As one faces north. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 329 

narrates this — a Greek historian, a follower of the truth, and 
very famous — inthe History of India near the end, and Ludovico 
Celio quotes it in Book i., eh. xxii., of the Lectiones Antiguas.^ 
Returning to these days of toil : — 

Saturday, which they counted July 14, the Guards ^ being 
on the left hand, he says the North was in seven degrees : he 
saw black and white jays,^ which are birds that do not go far 
from land, and from this he considered it a sign of land. He 
was sick at this point of the journey, from gout and from not 
sleeping; but because of this he did not cease to watch and 
work with great care and diligence. 

Sunday and Monday, they saw the same birds and more 
swallows, and some fish appeared which they called botos,^ 
which are little smaller than great calves, and which have 
the head very blunt. The Admiral says here incidentally that 
the Azores Islands which in ancient times were called Case- 
terides,^ were situated at the end of the fifth clime.® 

Thursday, July 19, there was such intense and ardent heat 
that they thought the men and ships would burn, but as our 
Lord at sight of the afflictions which He gives is accustomed 

^ On Hanno's voyage see Encyclopoedia Britannica under his name. There 
was no Greek historian Amianus ; the name should be Arrianus, who wrote 
the history of Alexander the Great's expedition to India and a history of 
India. The reference is to the latter work, ch. xliii., sects. 11, 12. 

Ludovico Celio : Ludovico Ricchieri, born about 1450. He was for a 
time a professor in the Academy at Milan. He took the Latin name 
Rhodiginus from his birthplace Rovigo, and sometimes his name appears 
in full as Ludovicus Coelius Richerius Rhodiginus. His Antiquarum Lec- 
tionum Libri XVI. was pubHshed at Venice in 1516, at Paris in 1517, and 
in an extended form at Basel, 1542. It is a collection of passages from 
the classical authors relating to all branches of knowledge, with a critical 
commentary. 

^ The Guards, " the two brightest stars in Ursa Minor." (Tolhausen.) 
^ Grajos. The meaning given in the dictionaries for grajo is "daw." 
* This word, as a name of a fish, is Portuguese. It means "blunted." 
° See Pliny, Natural History, book iv., ch. xxxvi. The Cassiterides are 
commonly identified with the Scilly Islands. 

" The fifth clime or climate is a term in Ptolemy's geographical system. 
The fifth climate was a strip 255 Roman miles in width lying between 41 ° 
and 45° north latitude. Cf. Raccolta Columbiana, Parte I., Tomo 2, p. 293. 
The latitude of the Azores is about 37°-40°. 



330 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

by interfering to the contrary to alleviate them, He succored 
him by His mercy at the end of seven or eight days, giving 
him very good weather to get away from that fire; with 
which good weather he navigated towards the west 17 
days, always intending to return to the south, and place him- 
self, as above said, in such a region, that this Espanola should 
be to the north or septentrion, where he thought he must find 
land before or beyond the said place: and thus he intended 
to repair the ships which were already opening from the past 
heat, and the supplies, of which he had a large quantity, be- 
cause of the necessity of taking them to this island and the 
great difficulty in getting them from Castile, and which were 
becoming worthless and damaged. 

Sunday, July 22, in the afternoon, as they were going with 
good weather, they saw innumerable birds pass from the west- 
south-west to the north-east : he says that they were a great 
sign of land. They saw the same the Monday following and 
the days after, on one of which days a pelican came to the 
ship of the Admiral, and many others appeared another day, 
and there were other birds which are called ''frigate pehcans." ^ 

On the seventeenth day of the good weather which they 
were experiencing, the Admiral was hoping to see land, be- 
cause of the said signs of the birds, and as he did not see it 
Monday, or the next day, Tuesday, July 31, as they lacked 
water, he decided to change his route, and this was to the west, 
and to go to the right, and make for the island of Dominica, 
or some of the islands of the Canibales, which to-day are called 
the Caribes, and thus he ordered the course to the north, 
quarter north-east, and went that way until midday. ''But 
as His Divine Majesty," he says, "has always used mercy 
with me, a sailor from Guelva,^ my servant, who was called 
Alonso Perez, by chance and conjecture ascended to the 
round top and saw land to the west, and he was 15 leagues 
from it, and that part which appeared were three rocks or 

' The names are alcatraz and rahihorcado. See above, note to Journal of 
First Voyage, p. 98, note 1, and p. 103, note 1. 
^ Huelva, near Palos. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 331 

mountains." These are his words. He named this land ''The 
Island of the Trinity/' ^ because he had determined that the 
first land he discovered should be named thus. ''And it pleased 
our Lord," he says, "by His Exalted Majesty, that the first 
lands seen were three rocks all united at the base, I say three 
mountains, all at one time and in one glance." "His High 
Power by His pity guides me," he says, "in such a manner, 
that He may have much service, and your Highnesses much 
pleasure: as it is certain that the discovery of this land in 
this place was as great a miracle as the discovery of the first 
voyage." These are his words. He gave infinite thanks to 
God as was his custom, and all praised the divine goodness, 
and with great rejoicings and merriment the Salve Regina^ 
was sung with other devout songs which contain praises of 
God and our Lady, according to the custom of sailors, at least 
our sailors of Spain, who in tribulations and rejoicings are 
accustomed to say them. 

Here he makes a digression and recapitulation of the services 
he has rendered the Sovereigns, and of the will he always had 
keen to serve them, "not as false tongues," says he, "and as 
false witnesses from envy said." ^ And surely, I befieve 
that such as these God took for instruments to chasten him 
because he loved him since many without cause and without 
object maligned him and disturbed these efforts, and brought 
it about that the Sovereigns grew lukewarm and wearied of 
expense and of keeping up their attachment and expectation 
that these Indies were likely to be of profit, at least that it 
should be more than the expenses with increase that came to 
them. He repeats a mention of the heat he suffered, and how 
they were nevertheless now going by the same parallel, except 
they had drawn near to the land when he ordered the course 
directed to the west, because the land emits coolness from its 

» Trinidad. 

^ Salve Regina, one of the great hymns to the Virgin in the CathoHc 
service. "The antiphon said after Lauds and CompHne from Trinity 
Sunday to Advent." Addis and Arnold, Catholic Dictionary. 

^ I.e., that his will was not to serve the sovereigns but to advance himself. 



332 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

fountains and rivers, and by its waters causes moderation and 
softness; and because of this he says the Portuguese who go 
to Guinea which is below the equinoctial hne are able to navi- 
gate because they go along the coast. He says further, that 
now he was in the same parallel from which the King of 
Portugal brought gold, from which he believed that whoever 
would search those seas would find things of value. He con- 
fesses here that there is no man in the world for whom God 
has shown so much grace, and entreats Him that He will furnish 
something from which their Highnesses and Christianity may 
receive great pleasure; and he says that, although he should 
not find any other thing of benefit except these beautiful 
lands, which are so green and full of groves and palms, that 
they are superior to the gardens of Valencia in May, they 
would deserve to be highly valued. And in this he speaks 
the truth and later on he will place a still higher value on it 
with much reason. He says that it is a miraculous thing that 
the Sovereigns of Castile should have lands so near the equinoc- 
tial as 6 degrees, Ysabela being distant from the said line 24 
degrees. 

Having seen the land then to the great consolation of all, 
he left the course which he desired to follow in search of some 
of the islands of the Canibales in order to provide himself with 
water, of which he was greatly in need, and made a short ex- 
cursion towards the land which he had seen, towards a cape 
which appeared to be to the west, which he called 'Tabo de 
la Galera," ^ from a great rock which it had, which from a dis- 
tance appeared like a galley sailing. They arrived there at 
the hour of compline.^ They saw a good harbor but it was 
not deep, and the Admiral regretted that they could not enter 
it. He pursued his course to the point he had seen, which 
was seven leagues toward the south. He did not find a har- 
bor. On all the coast he found that the groves reached to 
the sea, the most beautiful coast that eyes ever saw. He says 
that this island must be large ; a canoe appeared at a distance 

* Cape of the Galley. To-day, Cape Galeota. 

' The last of the canonical hours of prayer, after sunset or early evening. 



1498] LAS CAS AS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 333 

filled with people who must have been fishing, and made 
towards the land to some houses which appeared there. The 
land was very cultivated and high and beautiful. 

"^ Wednesday, August 1, he ran down the coast toward the 
west, five leagues, and arrived at a point, where he anchored 
with all three ships, and took water from fountains and 
streams. They found signs of people, instruments for fishing, 
signs of goats, but they were only of deer of which there are 
many in those lands. He says that they found aloes and 
great groves of palms, and very beautiful lands: ''for which 
infinite thanks may be given to the Holy Trinity." These are 
his words. He saw much tilled land along the coast and 
many settlements. He saw from there towards the south, an- 
other island, which is distant more than 20 leagues. (And he 
might well say five hundred since this is the mainland which, 
as he saw a part of it, seemed to him to be an island); to 
this he gave the name of "Ysla Sancta." He says here that 
he would not take any Indians in order not to disturb the land. 
From the Cape of Galera to the point where he took the water, 
which I beheved he named ''Punta de la Playa," he says 
that having been a great way, and running east-west (he 
should say that he went from east to west) there was no port 
in all that way, but the land was well populated and tilled, 
and with many trees and thick groves, the most beautiful 
thing in the world, the trees reaching to the sea. Here it 
may be remarked that when the trees of the country grow 
down to the water's edge it indicates that such a coast is not 
exposed to high seas, because when the coast is so exposed 
trees do not grow down to the water, but there is an open 
sandy shore. ' The current, surgente, which is that which comes 
down, and the montante, which is that which ascends from 
below, he says appear to be great. The island which lies to 
the south he says is very large, because he was already go- 
ing along with the mainland in sight although he did not 
think so, but that it was an island. 

He says that he came to search for a harbor along the island 
of Trinidad, Thursday, August 2, and arrived at the cape of 



334 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

the island of Trinidad, which is a point, to which he gave the 
name ''Punta del Arenal," ^ which is to the west: so that 
he had in a sense already entered in the gulf which he called 
''de la Ballena," ^ where he underwent great danger of losing 
his ships, and he as yet did not know that he was becoming 
encircled by land as will be seen. This gulf is a wonderful 
thing and dangerous on account of the very great river that 
flows into it which is called the Yuyapari,^ the last syllable 
long. It comes from more than 300 and I believe more than 
400 leagues, and it has been traversed for 300 leagues up 
stream partly with a ship, partly with brigantines and partly 
with large canoes. And since the force of the water is very 
great at all times and particularly so in this season of July 
and August in which the Admiral was there, which is the 
season of high water as in Castile in October and November, 
and since it wants naturally to get to the sea, and the sea 
with its great mass under the same natural impulse wants to 
break upon the land, and since this gulf is enclosed by the 
mainland on one side and on the other by the island of Trinidad, 
and since it is very narrow for such a violent force of contrary 
waters, it must needs be that when they meet a terrific struggle 
takes place and a conflict most perilous for those that find 
themselves in that place. 

He says here that the island of Trinidad is large, because 
from the Cape of Galera to the Point of Arenal, where he was 
at the present time, he says it is 35 leagues. I say that it 
is more than 45, as he that desires may see by the charts, 
although now those names are not written on the charts as 
they have been forgotten, and to understand the matter they 
must consider the course the Admiral pursued until he arrived 
there, and at what point he first saw land, and from there 
where he went till he stopped, and in that way, one will find 
out what he called the Cape of Galera and what the Point 

' Sandy Point. 

^ Of the whale. 

^ One of the native names of the Orinoco, here referring to one of the 
northern branch mouths. A detailed map of the region is given in 
Winsor's Columbus, p. 353. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 335 

of Arenal. It is not a matter of surprise that the Admiral did 
not make an accurate estimate of the leagues of the island 
because he went along it piece by piece. 

He ordered that his people should land on this Point of 
Arenal, the end of the island toward the west, to enjoy them- 
selves and obtain recreation, because they had become wearied 
and fatigued; who found the land very much trampled by 
deer, although they believed they were goats. This Thursday, 
August 2, a large canoe came from towards the east, in which 
came twenty-five men, and having arrived at the distance of a 
lombard shot, they ceased to row, and cried out many words. 
The Admiral believed, and I also believe, that they were ask- 
ing what people they were, as the others of the Indies were 
accustomed to do, to which they did not respond in words, 
but by showing them certain small boxes of brass and other 
shining things, in order that they should come to the ship, 
coaxing them with motions of the body and signs. They ap- 
proached somewhat, and afterwards became terrified by the 
ship; and as they would not approach, the Admiral ordered 
a tambourine player to come up to the poop deck of the ship 
and that the young boys of the ship should dance, thinking 
to please them. But they did not understand it thus, but 
rather, as they saw dancing and playing, taking it for a signal 
of war, they distrusted them. They left all their oars and 
laid hold of their bows and arrows ; and each one embracing 
his wooden shield, they commenced to shoot a great cloud of 
arrows. Having seen this, the Admiral ordered the playing 
and dancing to cease, and that some cross-bows should be 
drawn on deck and two of them shot off at them, nothing 
more than to frighten them. The Indians then, having shot 
the arrows, went to one of the two caravels, and suddenly, 
without fear, placed themselves below the poop, and the pilot 
of the caravel, also without any fear, glided down from the 
poop and entered with them in the canoe with some things 
which he gave them; and when he was with them he gave 
a smock frock and a bonnet to one of them who appeared to 
be the principal man. They took them and as if in gratitude 



336 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

for what had been given them, by signs said to him that he 
should go to land with them, and there they would give him 
what they had. He accepted and they went away to land. 
The pilot entered the boat and went to beg permission of the 
Admiral on the ship, and when they saw that he did not go 
directly with him, they did not expect him longer, and so they 
went away and neither the Admiral nor any other ever saw 
them more. From the sudden change in their bearing be- 
cause of the playing on the tambourine and the dancing, it 
appears that this must be considered among them a sign of 
hostility. 

A servant of the Admiral, called Bernaldo de Ibarro, who 
was on this voyage with him, told me and gave it to me in 
writing and I have this writing in my possession to-day, that 
a cacique came to the ship of the Admiral and was wearing 
upon his head a diadem of gold ; and he went to the Admiral 
who was wearing a scarlet cap and greeted him and kissed 
his own diadem, and with the other hand he removed the cap 
of the Admiral and placed upon him the diadem, and he him- 
self put upon his own head the scarlet cap, appearing very 
content and pleased. 

The Admiral says here that these were all youths and very 
well shaped and adorned, although I do not believe they wore 
much silk or brocade, with which, also, I believe the Spaniards 
and the Admiral might be more pleased; but they came 
armed with bows and arrows and wooden shields. They were 
not as short as others he had seen in the Indies and they 
were whiter, and of very good movements and handsome 
bodies, the hair long and smooth and cut in the manner of 
Castile. They had the head tied with a large handkerchief 
of cotton, symmetrically woven in colors, which the Admiral 
believed to be the almaigar;^ he says that others had this 
cloth around them, and they covered themselves with it in 

* "A sort of veil, or head attire used by the Moorish women, made of 
thin silk, striped of several colors, and shagged at the ends, which hangs 
down on the back." John Stevens, A New Dictionary, Spanish and English, 
etc. (London, 1726.) 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 337 

place of trousers. He says that they are not black although 
they are near the equinoctial/ but of an Indian color like 
all the others he has found. They are of very fine stature, 
go naked, are warlike, wear the hair very long like the women 
in Castile, carry bows and arrows with plumes, and at the end 
of the arrows a sharp bone with a point like a fish-hook, and 
they carry wooden shields, which he had not seen before; 
and according to the signs and gestures which they made, he 
says he could understand from them that they believed the 
Admiral came from the south, from which he judged that there 
must be great lands toward the south, and he said well since 
the mainland is so large that it occupies a large part of the 
south. 

The temperature of this land, he says, is very high, and ac- 
cording to him this causes the color of the people, and the 
hair which is all flowing, and the very thick groves which 
abound everywhere. He says it must be believed that when 
once the boundary is passed, 100 leagues to the west of the 
Azores, that many times he has said that there is a change 
in the sky and the sea and the temperature, ''and this," he 
says, ''is manifest," because here where he was, so near to 
the equinoctial line, each morning, he says, it was cool and 
the sun was in Leo. What he says is very true, since I who 
write this have been there and required a robe nights and 
mornings especially at Navidad.^ 

The waters were running toward the west with a current 
stronger than the river of Seville ; the water of the sea rose 
and fell 65 paces and more, as in Barrameda so that they are 
able to beach carracks;^ he says that the current flows very 

* The exploration of the west coast of Africa, the only equatorial regions 
then known to Europeans, had led to the conclusion that black was the 
natural color of the inhabitants of the tropics. 

^ The Navidad referred to by Las Casas was near the Gulf of Paria. 
(Thacher.) 

^ Poner d monte carracas. Poner d monte is not given in the Spanish dic- 
tionaries, and is apparently a sea phrase identical with the Portuguese " por 
um navio a monte," to beach or ground a vessel. The translator went 
entirely astray in this passage. See Thacher's Columbus, 11. 388. The 
figure here given and the use of word pasos, normally, a land measure of 



338 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

strongly going between these two islands, Trinidad and that 
one which he called Sancta, and the land which afterwards 
and farther on he called Isla de Gracia. And he calls the 
mainland an island, since he was already between the two 
which are two leagues apart which [i.e., the channel] is like 
a river as it appears on the map. They found fruits ^ hke 
those of this Espanola, and the trees and the soil, and the 
temperature of the sky. In this Espanola they found few 
fruits native to the soil. The temperature of that country is 
much higher than it is in this Espanola, except in the mines of 
Cibao and in some other districts, as has been said above. 

They found hostias or oysters, very large, infinite fish, 
parrots as large as hens, he says. In this land and in all the 
mainland the parrots are larger than any of those in these 
islands and are green, the color being very light, but those of 
the islands are of a green somewhat darker. Those of the 
mainland have the yellow with spots and the upper part of 
the wings with reddish spots, and some are of yellow plumage ; 
those of the islands have no yellow, the neck being red with 
spots. The parrots of Espanola have a little white over the 
back; those of Cuba have that part red and they are very 
pretty. Those of the island of San Juan I believe are similar 
to those of this island [Espanola] and I have not observed 
this feature in those of Jamaica. Finally it appears that 
those of each island are somewhat different. In this main- 
land where the Admiral is now, there is a species of parrots 
which I believe are found nowhere else, very large, not much 

length, instead of braza, " fathom," would seem to indicate that the 65 
paces refers to the extent of shore laid bare, and not to the height of the 
tide. The corresponding passage in the Historic reads: "so that it seemed 
a rapid river both day and night and at all hours, notwithstanding the 
fact that the water rose and fell along the shore (per la spiaggia) more 
than sixty paces between the waves (alle marette) as it is wont to do in 
San Lucar di Barrameda where the waters [of the river] are high since 
although the water rises and falls it never ceases to run toward the 
sea," Historic (London ed.), p. 229. In this passage maree, " tides," should 
be read instead of marette. 

^ Accepting the emendation of de LoUis which substitutes fructas for 
fiientes, " springs." 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 339 

smaller than hens, reddish with blue and black feathers in the 
wings. These never speak nor are attractive -except in ap- 
pearance. They are called by the Indians guacamayas. It is 
marvellous how all the other kinds can speak except the small- 
est, which are called xaxaues. 

Being at this Point of Arenal, which is the end of the 
island of Trinidad, they saw toward the north, quarter north- 
east,^ a distance of 15 leagues, a cape or point of the same 
mainland, and this is that which is called Paria. The Admiral 
beheving that it was another distinct island named it ''Isla 
de Gracia": which island he says goes to the west [Oeste] 
which is the west [poniente], and that it is a very high land. 
And he says truly, for through all that land run great chains 
of very high mountains. 

Saturday, August 4, he determined to go to the said island 
of Gracia and raised the anchors and made sail from the said 
Point of Arenal, where he was anchored; and because that 
strait by which he entered into the Gulf of Ballena was not 
more than two leagues wide between Trinidad on one side and 
the mainland on the other, the fresh water came out very 
swiftly. There came from the direction of the Arenal, on the 
island of Trinidad, such a great current from the south, like a 
mighty flood (and it was because of the great force of the river 
Yuyapari which is toward the south and which he had not yet 
seen), with such great thundering and noise, that all were 
frightened and did not think to escape from it, and when the 
water of the sea withstood it, coming in opposition, the sea 
was raised making a great and very high swelP of water which 
raised the ship and placed it on top of the swell, a thing which 
was never heard of nor seen, and raised the anchors of the 
other ship which must have been already cast and forced it 
toward the sea, and the Admiral made sail to get away from 
the said slope. '^It pleased God not to injure us," says the 
Admiral here, and when he wrote this thing to the Sovereigns 
he said, ''even to-day I feel the fear in my body which I felt 

* I.e., north by east. ^ Loma. 



340 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

lest it should upset the ship when it came under her." ^ For 
this great danger, he named the mouth ''Boca de la Sierpe." ^ 
Having reached that land which he saw in that direction 
and believed was an island, he saw near that cape two small 
islands in the middle of another channel which is made by that 
cape which he called Cabo de Lapa and another cape of the 
Trinidad which he called Cabo Boto, because of being thick 
and blunt, — the one island he named El Caracol, the other El 
Delfin.^ It is only five leagues in this strait between the Point 
of Paria and Cape Boto of Trinidad, and the said islands are 
in the middle of the strait. The impetus of the great river 
Yuyapari and the tempestuous waves of the sea make the 
entrance and exit by this strait greatly dangerous, and because 
the Admiral experienced this difficulty and also danger, he 
called that difficult entrance Boca del Drago^ and thus it is 
called to this day. He went along the coast of the mainland 
of Paria,^ which he beheved to be an island, and named it 
Isla de Gracia, towards the west in search of a harbor. From 
the point of the Arenal, which is one cape of Trinidad as has 
been said, and is towards the south, as far as the other Cape 
Boto, which is of the same island and is towards the sea, the 
Admiral says it is 26 large leagues, and this part appears to be 
the width of the island, and these two said capes are north 
and south. There were great currents, the one against the 
other; there came many showers as it was the rainy season, 
as aforesaid. The Isla de Gracia is, as has been said, mainland. 
The Admiral says that it is a very high land and all full of 
trees which reach to the sea; this is because the gulf being 
surrounded by land, there is no surf and no waves which break 
on the land as where the shores are uncovered. He says that, 
being at the point or end of it, he saw an island of very high 

* Las Casas here quotes Columbus's letter to Ferdinand and Isabella on 
this voyage. See Major, Select Letters of Columbus, p. 123. 

' Serpent's mouth. The name is still retained. 

^ Lapa means barnacle ; caracol, periwinkle ; and delfin, dolphin. 

* Dragon's mouth. The name is still retained. 

^ Le., along the south shore of the peninsula of Paria in the Gulf of 
Paria. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 341 

land to the north-east, which might be 26 leagues from there. 
He named it "Belaforma," because it must have looked very 
well from a distance, yet all this is the mainland, which, as 
the ships changed their position from one side to the other 
within the gulf enclosed by land, some inlets appeared as if 
they separated lands which might be detached, and these the 
Admiral called islands; for such was his opinion/ 

He navigated Sunday, August 5, five leagues from the point 
of the Cape of Lapa, which is the eastern end of the island of 
Gracia. He saw very good harbors adjacent to each other, 
and almost all this sea he says is a harbor, because it is sur- 
rounded by islands and there are no waves. He called the parts 
of the mainland which disclosed themselves to him ''islands," 
but there are only the island of Trinidad and the mainland, 
which inclose the gulf which he now calls the sea. He sent 
the boats to land and found fish and fire, and traces of people, 
and a great house visible to the view. From there he went 
eight leagues where he found good harbors. This part of this 
island of Gracia he says is very high land, and there are many 
valleys, and ''all must be populated," says he, because he 
saw it all cultivated. There are many rivers because each 
valley has its own from league to league; they found many 
fruits, and grapes like [our] grapes and of good taste, and 
myrobolans " very good, and others like apples, and others, 
he says, like oranges, and the inside is like figs. They found 
numberless monkeys.^ The waters, he says, are the best that 
they saw. "This island," he says, "is all full of harbors, 
this sea is fresh, although not wholly so, but brackish like that 
of Carthagena"; farther down he says that it is fresh hke the 
river of Seville, and this was caused when it encountered some 
current of water from the sea, which made that of the river 
salty. 

' The grammatical form of this sentence follows the original, which is 
irregular. 

^Seep. 311, note 2. 

^ Gatos paules (Cat-'Pauh) . A species of African monkey was so called 
in Spain. The name occurs in Marco Polo. On its history and meaning, 
see Yule's Marco Polo, II. 372. 



342 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

He sailed to a small port Monday, August 6, five leagues, 
from whence he went out and saw people, and then a canoe 
with four men came to the caravel which was nearest the land, 
and the pilot called the Indians as if he wished to go to land 
with them, and in drawing near and entering he submerged 
the canoe, and they commenced swimming; he caught them 
and brought them to the Admiral. He says that they are of 
the color of all the others of the Indies. They wear the hair 
(some of them) very long, others as with us ; none of them have 
the hair cut as in Espanola and in the other lands. They 
are of very fine stature and all well grown; they have the 
genital member tied and covered, and the women all go naked 
as their mothers gave them birth. This is what the Admiral 
says, but I have been, as I said above, within 30 leagues of 
this land yet I never saw women that did not have their pri- 
vate parts, at least, covered.^ The Admiral must have meant 
that they went as their mothers bore them as to the rest of 
the body. 

^'To these Indians," says the Admiral, ''as soon as they 
were here, I gave hawks' bells and beads and sugar, and sent 
them to land, where there was a great battle among them, and 
after they knew the good treatment, all wished to come to 
the ships. Those who had canoes came and they were many, 
and to all we gave a good welcome and held friendly conver- 
sation with them, giving them the things which pleased them." 
The Admiral asked them questions and they rephed, but they 
did not understand each other. They brought them bread 
and water and some beverage like new wine; they are very 
much adorned with bows and arrows and wooden shields, 
and they almost all carry arrows poisoned. 

Tuesday, August 7, there came an infinite number of Ind- 
ians by land and by sea and all brought with them bread and 
maize and things to eat and pitchers of beverages, some white, 
hke milk, tasting like wine, some green, and some of different 
colors; he beheves that all are made from fruits. Most or 

* Im Thurn, Among the Indians of Guiana, p. 193, says, " Indians after 
babyhood are never seen perfectly naked." 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 343 

all of it is made from maize but as the maize itself is white 
or violet and reddish, it causes the wine to be of different colors. 
I do not know of what the green wine is made. They all 
brought their bows and poisoned arrows, very pointed ; ^ 
they gave nothing for beads, but would give as much as they 
had for hawks' bells, and asked nothing else. They gave a 
great deal for brass. It is certain that they hold this in high 
estimation and they gave in this Espanola for a little brass 
as much gold as any one would ask, and I believe that in the 
beginning it was always thus in all these Indies. They 
called it turey as if it came from Heaven because they called 
Heaven hureyo? They find in it I do not know what odor, 
but one which is agreeable to them. Here the Admiral says 
whatever they gave them from Castile they smelled it as soon 
as it was given them. They brought parrots of two or three 
kinds, especially the very large ones hke those in the island of 
Guadeloupe, he says, with the large tail. They brought 
handkerchiefs of cotton very symmetrically woven and worked 
in colors like those brought from Guinea, from the rivers of 
the Sierra Leona and of no difference, and he says that they 
cannot communicate with the latter, because from where he 
now is to Guinea the distance is more than 800 leagues ; below 
he says that these handkerchiefs resemble almayzars} He 
desired, he says, to take a half-dozen Indians, in order to carry 
them with him, and says that he could not take them because 
they all went away from the ships before nightfall. 

But Wednesday, August 8, a canoe came with 12 men to 
the caravel and they took them all, and brought them to the 
ship of the Admiral, and from them he chose six and sent the 
others to land. From this it appears that the Admiral did it 

* Flechas con hierba muy d punto, literally, arrows with grass very sharp. 
Gaffarel, Histoirc de la Decouverte de VAmerique, II. 196, interprets this to 
mean arrows feathered with grass; but hierba used in connection with 
arrows usually means poison. Cf. Oviedo, lib. ix., title of cap. xii., " Del 
drbol 6 man(^anillo con cuya jructa los indios caribes flecheros hagen la 
hierba con que tiran e pelean." 

^ Hureyos is Tureyos in the printed edition of Las Casas, an obvious correc- 
tion of the manuscript reading. On turey, see above, p. 310. 

^ See above, p. 336, note 1. 



344 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

without scruple as he did many other times in the first navi- 
gation, it not appearing to him that it was an injustice and an 
offence against God and his neighbor to take free men against 
their will, separating fathers from their sons and wives from 
their husbands and [not reflecting] that according to natural 
law they were married, and that other men could not take 
these women, or those men other women, without sin and 
perhaps a mortal sin of which the Admiral was the efficient 
cause — and there was the further circumstance that these 
people came to the ships under tacit security and promised 
confidence which should have been observed toward them; 
and beyond this, the scandal and the hatred of the Christians 
not only there, but in all the earth and among the peoples 
that should hear of this. 

He made sail then towards a point which he calls ''de 
I'Aguja," ^ he does not say when he gave it this name, and 
from there he says that he discovered the most beautiful 
lands that have been seen and the most populated, and ar- 
riving at one place which for its beauty he called Jardines,^ 
where there were an infinite number of houses and people, 
and those whom he had taken told him there were people 
who were clothed, for which reason he decided to anchor, and 
infinite canoes came to the ships. These are his words. Each 
one, he says, wore his cloth so woven in colors, that it appeared 
an almayzar, with one tied on the head and the other cover- 
ing the rest, as has been already explained. Of these people 
who now came to the ships, some he says wore gold leaf ^ on 
the breast, and one of the Indians he had taken told him there 
was much gold there, and that they made large mirrors of it, 
and they showed how they gathered it. He says mirrors, 
wherefore the Admiral must have given some mirrors and the 
Indian must have said by signs that of the gold they made 
those things, for they did not understand the language. He 
says that, as he was going hastily along there, because he was 

* Needle. Alcatrazes, to-day, (Navarrete.) ^ Gardens. 
' Ojas de oro. The translator took ojas (hojas) for ojos and rendered 
it " eyes of gold." See Thacher, Columbus, II. 393. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 345 

losing the supplies which it had cost him so much labor to 
obtain, and this island Espanola is more than 300 leagues 
from there, he did not tarry, which he would have wished very- 
much in order to discover much more land, and says that it 
is all full of very beautiful islands, much populated, and very 
high lands and valleys and plains, and all are very large. 
The people are much more poUtic than those of Espanola 
and warlike, and there are handsome houses. If the Admiral 
had seen the kingdom of Xaragua as did his brother the 
Adelantado and the court of the King Behechio ^ he would not 
have made so absolute a statement. 

Arriving at the point of Aguja, he says that he saw another 
island to the south 15 leagues which ran south-east and 
north-west, very large, and very high land, and he called it 
Sabeta, and in the afternoon he saw another to the west, very 
high land. All these islands I understand to be pieces of the 
mainland which by reason of the inlets and valleys that sepa- 
rate them seem to be distinct islands notwithstanding that he 
went clear inside the gulf which he called Ballena enclosed as 
is said by land ; and this seems clear since when one is, as he 
was, within the said gulf no land bears off to the south, except 
the mainland ; next, the islands which he mentioned were not 
islands but pieces of the mainland which he judged to be 
islands. 

He anchored at the place he had named the Jardines, and 
then there came an infinite number of canoes, large and small, 
full of people, according to what he says. Afterwards in the 
afternoon there came more from all the territory, many of 
whom wore at the neck pieces of gold of the size of horseshoes. 
It appeared that they had a great deal of it : but they gave it 
all for hawks' bells and he did not take it. And this is strange 
that a man as provident as the Admiral and desiring to make 
discoveries should not have seized this opportunity for trad- 
ing, as he did on his first voyage. Yet he had some specimens 
from them and it was of very poor quality so that it appeared 
plated. They said, as well as he could understand by signs, 

^ I.e., in Espanola. 



346 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

that there were some islands there where there was much of 
that gold, but that the people were canibales, and the Admiral 
says here that this word ''Canibales" every one there held 
as a cause for enmity, or perhaps they said so because they 
did not wish the Christians to go yonder, but that they should 
remain there all their life. The Christians saw one Indian 
with a grain of gold as large as an apple. 

Another time there came an infinite number of canoes 
loaded with people, and all wore gold and necklaces, and 
beads of infinite kinds, and had handkerchiefs tied on their 
heads as they had hair well cut, and they appeared very well. 
It rained a great deal, and for this reason the people ceased 
to go and come. Some women came who wore on the arms 
strings of beads, and mingled with them were pearls or 
aljofars,^ very fine, not like the colored ones which were 
found on the islands of Babueca; they traded for some of 
them, and he says that he would send them to their High- 
nesses. 

I never knew of these pearls that were found in the islands 
of Babueca, which are near Puerto de Plata, in this Espanola ; 
and these besides are low under the water and not islands, and 
they are very dangerous to ships that pass that way if they 
are not aware of them ; and so they have the name Abre el Ojo.^ 

The Admiral asked the Indians where they found them or 
fished them, and they showed him some mother-of-pearl 
where they are formed; and they replied to him by very 
clear signs, that they grow and are gathered towards the west, 
behind that island, which was the Cape of Lapa, the Point 
of Paria and mainland, which he believed to be an island, 
but it was the mainland. He sent the boats to land to know 
if there was any new thing which he had not seen, and they 
found the people so tractable, says the Admiral, that, '^although 
the sailors did not go intending to land, there came two prin- 
cipal persons with all the village, who induced them to descend 
and who took them to a large house, built near two streams 

^ Irregularly shaped pearls, seed pearls. 
* "Keep your eyes open." 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 347 

and not round, like a camp-tent, in the manner of the houses 
of the islands, where they received them very well and made 
them a feast and gave them a collation, bread and fruit of 
many kinds ; and the drink was a white beverage which had a 
great value, which every one brought there, at this time, 
and some of it is tinted and better than the other, as the wine 
with us. The men were all together at one end of the house 
and the women at the other. Having taken the collation at 
the house of the older man, the younger conducted them to 
the other house, where they went through the same function. 
It appeared that one must be the cacique and lord, and the 
other must be his son. Afterwards the sailors returned to 
the boats and with them went back to the ships, very pleased 
with this people." These are all the words of the Admiral. 
He says further: '^They are of very handsome stature, and 
all uniformly large," and whiter than any other he had seen in 
these Indies, and that yesterday he saw many as white as we 
are, and with better hair and well cut, and of very good speech. 
"No lands in the world can be more green and beautiful or 
more populated ; moreover the temperature since I have been 
in this island," says he, ''is, I say, cool enough each morning 
for a lined gown, although it is so near the equinoctial hne; 
the sea is however fresh. They called the island Paria." All 
are the words of the Admiral. He called the mainland an 
island, however, because so he believed it to be. 

Friday, August 10, he ordered sail to be made and went 
to the west of that which he thought to be an island, and 
travelled five leagues and anchored. For fear of not finding 
bottom, he went to search for an opening [mouth] by which 
to get out of that gulf, within which he was going, encircled 
by mainland and islands, although he did not believe it to be 
mainland, and he says it is certain that that was an island, 
because the Indians said thus, and thus it appears he did not 
understand them. From there he saw another island facing 
the south, which he called Ysabeta,^ which extends from the 
south-east to north-west, afterwards another which he called 

* Isabela in the printed text. 



348 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

La Tramontana/ a high land and very beautiful, and it seemed 
that it ran from north to south. It appeared very large. 
This was the mainland. The Indians whom he had taken 
said — according to what he understood — that the people 
there were Canibales and that yonder was where the gold was 
found and that the pearls which they had given the Admiral 
they had sought and found on the northern part of Paria toward 
the west. The water of that sea he says was as fresh as that 
of the river of Seville and in the same manner muddy. He 
would have wished to go to those islands except for turning 
backward because of the haste he felt in order not to lose 
the supplies that he was taking for the Christians of Espanola, 
which with so much labor, difficulty and fatigue he had gathered 
for them ; and as being a thing for the sake of which he had 
suffered much, he repeats this about the provisions or supplies 
many times. He says he believes that in those islands he had 
seen, there must be things of value because they are all large 
and high lands with valleys and plains and with many waters 
and very well cultivated and populated and the people of very 
good speech, as their gestures showed. These are the words 
of the Admiral. 

He says also that if the pearls are born as Pliny ^ says from 
the dew which falls in the oysters while they are open, there 
is good reason for having them there because much dew falls 
in that place and there are an infinite number of oysters and 
very large ones and because there are no tempests there, but 
the sea is always calm, a sign of which is that the trees enter 
into the sea, which shows there is never a storm there, and 
every branch of the trees which were in the water (and there 
are also roots of certain trees in the sea, which according to 
the language of this Espanola are called mangles ^), was full of 
an infinite number of oysters so that breaking a branch, it 
comes out full of oysters attached to it. They are white 

' The north wind. 

^ PUny, Natural History, book ix., ch. Liv. 

^ The name is still used. It is the Rhicopharia mangle. See the 
description of it in Thompson's Alcedo's Geographical and Historical Dic- 
tionary of America and the West Indies, Appendix. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 349 

within, and their flesh also, and very savory, not salt but fresh 
and they require some salt, and he says that they do not know 
or spring from mother-of-pearl. Wherever the pearls are 
generated, he says, they are extremely fine and they pierce 
them as in Venice. As for this that the Admiral says that the 
branches were full of oysters there, we say that those oysters 
that he saw and that are on the branches above the water and 
a little under the water are not those that produce pearls, 
but another species ; because those that bear pearls are more 
careful from their natural instinct to hide themselves as much 
further under water as they can than those he saw on the 
branches. . . .^ 

Returning to where I dropped the thread of the history, 
at this place the Admiral mentions many points of land and 
islands and the names he had given them, but it does not ap- 
pear when. In this and elsewhere the Admiral shows himself 
to be a native of another country and of another tongue, be- 
cause he does not apprehend all the signification of the Cas- 
tilian words nor the manner of using them. He gave names 
to the Punta Seca, the Ysla Ysabeta, the Ysla Tramontana, 
the Punta Liana, Punta Sara, assuming them to be known, 
although he has said nothing of them or of any of them. He 
says that all that sea is fresh, and he does not know from whence 
it proceeds, because it did not appear to have the flow from 
great rivers, and that, if it had them, he says it would not 
cease to be a marvel. But he was mistaken in thinking 
there were no rivers, since the river Yuyapari furnished so 
great a flow of fresh water, as well as others which come from 
near there. 

Desiring to get out of this Gulf of Ballena, where he was 
encircled by mainland and La Trinidad, as already said, in 
going to the west by that coast of the mainland, which he 
called ^'de Gracia" towards the point Seca, although he does 
not say where it was, he found two fathoms of water, no more. 
He sent the small caravel to see if there was an outlet to the 

' Las Casas here inserts a long disquisition on pearls which is omitted. 
It covers pp. 246-252 of the printed edition, Vol. II. 



350 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

north, because, in front of the mainland and of the other 
which he called Ysabeta, to the west, there appeared a very 
high and beautiful island. The caravel returned, and said 
that they found a great gulf, and in it four great openings which 
appeared small gulfs, and at the end of each one a river. This 
gulf he named Golpho de las Perlas, although I believe there 
are no pearls there. It appears that this was the inside corner 
of all this great gulf,^ in which the Admiral was going enclosed 
by the mainland and the island of Trinidad ; those four bays 
or openings, the Admiral believed were four islands, and that 
there did not appear to be a sign of a river, which would make 
all that gulf, of 40 leagues of sea, all fresh; but the sailors 
affirmed that those openings were mouths of rivers. And 
they say true, at least in regard to two of these openings, 
because by one comes the great river Yuyapari and by the 
other comes another great river which to-day is called the 
river of Camari.^ 

The Admiral would have liked very much to find out the 
truth of this secret, which was the cause of this great gulf 
being 40 leagues in length by 26 in width, containing fresh 
water, which was a thing, he says, for wonder, (and he was 
certainly right), and also to penetrate the secrets of those lands, 
where he did not believe it to be possible that there were 
not things of value, or that they were not in the Indies, espe- 
cially from having found there traces of gold and pearls and 
the news of them, and discovered such lands, so many and such 
people in them ; from which the things there and their riches 
might easily be known; but because the supplies he was 
carrying for the people who were in this Espanola, and which 
he carried that they who were in the mines gathering gold 
might have food, were being lost, which food and supplies he 
had gathered with great difficulty and fatigue, he did not 
allow himself to be detained, and he says that, if he had the 

* I.e., the western end of the Gulf of Paria. 

^ These mouths of the Orinoco supphed the fresh water, but they can 
hardly be the streams referred to by the sailors who explored the western 
end of the Gulf of Paria. Las Casas had no good map of this region. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 351 

hope of having more as quickly, he would postpone dehver- 
ing them, in order to discover more lands and see the secrets 
of them ; and finally he resolves to follow that which is most 
sure, and come to this island, and send from it moneys to 
Castile to bring supplies and people under hire, and at the 
earliest opportunity to send also his brother, the Adelantado, 
to prosecute his discovery and find great things, as he hoped 
they would be found, to serve our Lord and the Sover- 
eigns. 

Yet, just at the best time, the thread was cut, as will 
appear, of these his good desires, and he says thus: ''Our 
Lord guides me by His pity and presents me things with which 
He may be served, and your Highnesses may have great 
pleasure, and certainly they ought to have pleasure, because 
here they have such a noble thing and so royal for great 
princes. And it is a great error to believe any one who speaks 
evil to them of this undertaking, but to abhor them, because 
there is not to be found a prince who has had so much grace 
from our Lord, and so much victory from a thing so signal 
and of so much honor to their high estate and realms, and by 
which God may receive endlessly more services and the people 
of Spain more refreshment and gains. Because it has been 
seen that there are infinite things of value, and although now 
this that I say may not be known, the time will come when it 
will be accounted of great excellence, and to the great reproach 
of those persons who oppose this project to your Highnesses; 
and although they may have expended something in this 
matter, it has been in a cause more noble and of greater ac- 
count than any undertaking of any other prince until now, 
nor was it proper to withdraw from it hastily, but to proceed 
and give me aid and favor ; because the Sovereigns of Port- 
ugal spent and had courage to spend in Guinea, for four or 
five years, money and people, before they received any bene- 
fit, and afterward God gave them advantages and gold. For 
certainly, if the people of the kingdom of Portugal be counted, 
and those of them who died in this undertaking of Guinea be 
enumerated, it would be found that they are more than half 



352 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

of the kingdom ; ^ and certainly, it would be the greatest thing 
to have in Spain a revenue which would come from this under- 
taking. Your Highnesses would leave nothing of greater 
memory ; and they may examine, and discover that no prince 
of Castile may be found, and I have not found such by history 
or by tradition, — who has ever gained land outside of Spain. 
And your Highnesses will gain these lands, so very great, 
which are another world, ^ and where Christianity will have 
so great pleasure, and our faith in time so great an increase.^ 
All this I say with very honest intention, and because I desire 
that Your Highnesses may be the greatest Lords in the world,* 
I say Lords of it all ; and that it may all be with great service 
and contentment of the Holy Trinity, for which at the end of 
their days they may have the glory of Paradise, and not for 
that which concerns me myself, whose hope is in His High Maj- 
esty, that your Highnesses will soon see the truth of it, and 

^ Columbus elaborated this point in his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella. 
Major, Select Letters of Columbus, p. 113. Columbus's estimate of the 
sacrifice of lives in the exploration of the west coast of Africa must be con- 
sidered a most gross exaggeration. The contemporary narratives of those 
explorations give no such impression. 

^ Cf. Columbus's letter to the sovereigns, "Your Highnesses have here 
another world." Major, Select Letters of Columbus, p. 148, and the letter to 
the nurse of Prince John, p. 381, post. "I have placed under the dominion 
of the King and Queen our sovereigns another world." These passages 
clearly show that Columbus during and after this voyage realized that he 
accomplished something quite different from merely reaching Asia by a 
western route. He had found a hitherto unknown portion of the world, 
unknown to the ancients or to Marco Polo, but not for that reason necessarily 
physically detached from the known Asia. For a fuller discussion of the 
meaning of the phrase "another world," "New World," and of Columbus's 
ideas of what he had done, see Bourne, Spain in America, pp. 94-98, and the 
facsimile of the Bartholomew Columbus map, opposite p. 96. 

^ A noteworthy prediction. In fact the discovery of the New World has 
effected a most momentous change in the relative strength and range of 
Christianity among the world-religions. During the Middle Ages Christianity 
lost more ground territorially than it gained. Since the discovery of America 
its gain has been steady. 

^ Such in fact their Highnesses' grandson, Charles I. (V. as Emperor), 
was during his long reign, and such during a i^art of his reign if not the 
whole, was their great-grandson Phihp II. See Oviedo's reflections upon 
Columbus's career. Bourne, Spain in America, p. 82. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 353 

this is my ardent desire." All these are the actual words of 
the Admiral. . . .^ 

So, in order to get out of this gulf, within which he was 
surrounded by land on all parts, with the intention already 
told of saving the supplies which he carried, which were being 
lost, in coming to this island of Espanola, — Saturday, August 
11, at the appearance of the moon, he raised the anchors, 
spread the sails, and navigated toward the east {el leste), 
that is towards the place where the sun rises, ^ because he was 
in the corner of the gulf where was the river Yuyapari as was 
said above, in order to go out between the Point of Paria and 
the mainland, which he called the Punta or Cabo de Lapa, 
and the land he named Ysla de Gracia, and between the 
cape which he called Cabo Boto of the island of Trinidad. 

He arrived at a very good harbor, which he called Puerto 
de Gatos,^ which is connected with the mouth where are the 
two little islands of the Caracol and Delfin, between the capes 
of Lapa and Cape Boto. And this occurred Sunday, August 12. 

He anchored near the said harbor, in order to go out by the 
said mouth in the morning. He found another port near there, 
to examine which he sent a boat. It was very good. They 
found certain houses of fishermen, and much water and very 
fresh. He named it Puerto de las Cabanas.'* They found, 
he says, myrobolans on the land : near the sea, infinite oy- 
sters attached to the branches of the trees which enter into 
the sea, the mouths open to receive the dew which drops from 
the leaves and which engenders the pearls, as Pliny says and 
as is alleged in the vocabulary which is called Catholicon.^ 

^ Las Casas here comments at some length on these remarks of Columbus 
and the great significance of his discoveries. The passage omitted takes up 
pp. 255 (line six from bottom) to 258. 

^ Las Casas explains leste, which would seem to have been either pecuhar 
to sailors or at least not in common usage then for "east." 

' Probably gatos in the sense of gatos paules, monkeys, noted above, 
p. 341, as very plentiful. " Port of the Cabins. 

^ The Catholicon was one of the earliest Latin lexicons of modern times 
and the first to be printed. It was compiled by Johannes de Janua (Giovanni 
Balbi of Genoa) toward the end of the thirteenth century and first printed 
at Mainz in 1460, and very frequently later. 
2a 



354 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

Monday, August 13, at the rising of the moon, he weighed 
anchor from where he was, and came towards the Cape of Lapa, 
which is Paria, in order to go to the north by the mouth called 
Del Drago, for the following cause and danger in which he 
saw himself there; the Mouth of the Dragon, he says, is a 
strait which is between the Point of Lapa, the end of the island 
of Gracia, which is at the east end of the land of Paria and 
between Cape Boto which is the western end of the island of 
Trinidad. He says it is about a league and a half between the 
two capes. This must be after having passed four little islands 
which he says lie in the centre of the channel, although now 
we do not really see more than two, by which he could not go 
out, and there remained of the strait only a league and a half 
in the passage. From the Punta de la Lapa to the Cabo de 
Boto it is five leagues. Arriving at the said mouth at the 
hour of tierce,^ he found a great struggle between the fresh 
water striving to go out to the sea and the salt water of the 
sea striving to enter into the gulf, and it was so strong and 
fearful, that it raised a great swell, like a very high hill, and 
with this, both waters made a noise and thundering, from east 
to west, very great and fearful, with currents of water, and 
after one came four great waves one after the other, which 
made contending currents; here they thought to perish, no 
less than in the other mouth of the Sierpe by the Cape of 
Arenal when they entered into the gulf. This danger was 
doubly more than the other, because the wind with which they 
hoped to get out died away, and they wished to anchor, because 
there was no remedy other than that, although it was not 
without danger from the fierceness of the waters, but they did 
not find bottom, because the sea was very deep there. They 
feared that the wind having calmed, the fresh or salt water 
might throw them on the rocks with their currents, when 
there would be no help. It is related that the Admiral here 
said, although I did not find it written with his own hand as 
I found the above, that if they escaped from that place they 

' The third of the canonical hours of prayer, about nine o'clock in the 
morning. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 355 

could report that they escaped from the mouth of the dragon, 
and for this reason that name was given to it and with reason. 

It pleased the goodness of God that from the same danger 
safety and deliverance came to them and the current of the 
fresh water overcame the current of the salt water and carried 
the ships safely out, and thus they were placed in security; 
because when God wills that one or many shall be kept alive, 
water is a remedy for them/ Thus they went out, Monday, 
August 13, from the said dangerous Gulf and Mouth of the 
Dragon. He says that there are 48 leagues from the first 
land of La Trinidad to the gulf which the sailors discovered 
whom he sent in the caravel, where they saw the rivers and 
he did not believe them, which gulf he called "de las Perlas," 
and this is the interior angle of all the large gulf, which he 
called "de la Ballena," where he travelled so many days en- 
circled by land. I add that it is a good 50 leagues, as appears 
from the chart. 

Having gone out of the gulf and the Boca del Drago and 
having passed his danger, he decides to go to the west by the 
coast below ^ of the mainland, believing yet that it was the 
island of Gracia,inorderto get abreast, on the right, of the said 
Gulf of the Pearls, north and south, and to go around it,^and see 
whence comes so great abundance of water, and to see if it 
proceeded from rivers, as the sailors affirmed and which he 
says he did not believe because he had not heard that either the 
Ganges, the Nile or the Euphrates^ carried so much fresh 

^ El agua les es medicina, i.e., a means of curing the ill. 

' Abajo. Las Casas views the mainland as extending up from the sea. 
Columbus was going west along the north shore of the peninsula of Paria. 

^ I.e., to go west along the north shore of this supposed island until 
looking south he was to the right of it and abreast of the Gulf of Pearls. 

* Three of the greatest known rivers, each of which drained a vast range of 
territory. This narrative reveals the gradual dawning upon Columbus 
of the fact that he had discovered a hitherto unknown continental mass. 
In his letter to the sovereigns his conviction is settled and his efforts to adjust 
it with previous knowledge and the geographical traditions of the ages 
are most interesting. See Major, Select Letters of Columbus, pp. 134 et seqq. 
"Ptolemy," he says, on p. 136, "and the others who have written upon the 
globe had no information respecting this part of the world, for it was most 
unknown." 



356 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

water. The reason which moved him was because he did not 
see lands large enough to give birth to such great rivers, 
''unless indeed," he says, ''that this is mainland." These are 
his words. So that he was already beginning to suspect that 
the land of Gracia which he believed to be an island is mainland, 
which it certainly was and is, and the sailors had been right, 
from which land there came such a quantity of water from 
the rivers, Yuyapari and the other which flows out near it, 
which we now call Camari, and others which must empty there, 
so that, going in search of that Gulf of the Pearls, where the 
said rivers empty, thinking to find it surrounded by land, 
considering it an island and to see if there was an entrance 
there, or an outlet to the south, and if he did not find 
it, he says he would affirm then that it was a river, and 
that both were a great wonder, — he went down the coast 
that Monday until the setting of the sun. 

He saw that the coast was filled with good harbors and a 
very high land; by that lower coast he saw many islands 
toward the north and many capes on the mainland, to all of 
which he gave names : to one, Cabo de Conchas ; to another, 
Cabo Luengo; to another, Cabo de Sabor; to another, Cabo 
Rico. A high and very beautiful land. He says that on that 
way there are many harbors and very large gulfs which must 
be populated, and the farther he went to the west he saw the 
land more level and more beautiful. On going out of the 
mouth, he saw an island to the north, which might be 26 
leagues from the north, and named it La Isla de la Asuncion ; 
he saw another island and named it La Concepcion, and three 
other small islands together he called Los Testigos.^ They are 
called this to-day. Another near them he called El Romero, 
and three other little small islands he called Las Guardias. 
Afterwards he arrived near the Isla Margarita, and called it 
Margarita, and another near it he named El Martinet. 

This Margarita is an island 15 leagues long, and 5 or 6 
wide, and is very green and beautiful on the coast and is very 
good within, for which reason it is inhabited; it has near it 

* The Witnesses. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 357 

extending lengthwise east and west, three small islands, and 
two behind them extending north and south. The Admiral 
did not see more than the three, as he was going along the 
southern part of Margarita. It is six or seven leagues from 
the mainland, and this makes a small gulf between it and the 
mainland, and in the middle of the gulf are two small islands, 
east and west, beside each other: the one is called Coche, 
which means deer, and the other Cubagua, which is the one 
we have described in chapter 136, and said that there are an 
infinite quantity of pearls gathered there. So that the Ad- 
miral, although he did not know that the pearls were formed in 
this gulf, appears to have divined that fact in naming it Mar- 
garita ; he was very near it, although he does not express it, 
because he says he was nine leagues from the island of Martinet, 
which he says was near Margarita, on the northern part, and 
he says near it, because as he was going along the southern 
part of Margarita, it appeared to be near, although it was 
eight or nine leagues away ; and this is the small island to the 
north, near Margarita, which is now called Blanca, and is 
distant eight or nine leagues from Margarita as I said. For 
here it seems that the Admiral must have been close to or 
near Margarita and I beheve that he anchored because the 
wind failed him. Finally of all the names that he gave to the 
islands and capes of the mainland which he took for the 
island of Gracia none have lasted or are used to-day except 
Trinidad, Boca del Drago, Los Testigos, and Margarita. 

There the eyes of the Admiral became very bad from not 
sleeping. Because always, as he was in so many dangers 
sailing among islands, it was his custom himself to watch on 
deck, and whoever takes ships with cargo should for the most 
part do that very thing, like the pilots, and he says that he 
found himself more fatigued here than when he discovered 
the other mainland, which is the island of Cuba, (which he 
regarded as mainland even until now), because his eyes were 
bloodshot ; and thus his labors on the sea were incompar- 
able. For this reason he was in bed tliis night, and therefore 
he found himself farther out in the sea than he would have 



358 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

been if he had himself watched, from which he did not trust 
himself to the sailors, nor should any one who is a diligent 
and perfect pilot trust to anybody, because dependent on him 
and on his head are all those who go in the ship, and that 
which is most necessary and proper to his office is to watch 
and not sleep all the time while he navigates. 

The Admiral appears to have gone down the coast after he 
came out of the Mouth of the Dragon, yesterday Monday and 
to-day Tuesday, 30 or 40 leagues at least, although he does 
not say so, as he complains that he did not write all that he 
had to write, as he could not on account of his being so ill 
here. And as he saw that the land was becoming very ex- 
tended below to the west, and appeared more level and more 
beautiful, and the Gulf of the Pearls which was in the back 
part of the gulf, or fresh-water sea, whence the river of Yuya- 
pari flowed, in the search of which he was going, had no out- 
let, which he hoped to see, beheving that this mainland was an 
island, he now became conscious that a land so great was not 
an island, but mainland, and as if speaking with the Sover- 
eigns, he says here: ''I believe that this is mainland, very 
great, which until to-day has not been known. And reason 
aids me greatly because of this being such a great river and 
because of this sea which is fresh, and next the saying of Es- 
dras aids me, in the 4th book, chapter 6th, which says that 
the six parts of the world are of dry land and the one of water.^ 
Which book St. Ambrose approves in his Examenon ^ and St. 
Augustine on the passage, 'Morietur filius meus Christus,' 

^ The reference is to //. Esdras, vi. 42, in the Apocrypha of the English 
Bible. The Apocryphal books of I. and II. Esdras were known as III. and 
IV. Esdras in the Middle Ages, and the canonical books in the Vulgate called 
I. and II. Esdras are called Ezra and Nehemiah in the English Bible. II. Es- 
dras is an apocalyptic work and dates from the close of the first century 
A.D. The passage to which Columbus referred reads as follows: "Upon the 
third day thou didst command that the waters should be gathered in the 
seventh part of the earth; six parts hast thou dried up, and kept them, to 
the intent that of these some being planted of God and tilled might serve 
thee." 

' The reference is wrong, as Las Casas points out two or three pages fur- 
ther on (II. 266) ; it should be to the treatise De Bono Mortis, cap. 10. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 359 

as Francisco de Mayrones alleges/ And further, I am sup- 
ported by the sayings of many Canibales Indians, whom I 
took at other times, who said that to the south of them was 
mainland, and at that time I was on the island of Guadeloupe, 
and also I heard it from others of the island of Sancta Cruz 
and of Sant Juan, and they said that in it there was much gold, 
and, as your Highnesses know, a very short time ago, there 
was no other land known than that which Ptolemy wrote of, 
and there was not in my time any one who would believe that 
one could navigate from Spain to the Indies; about which 
matter I was seven years in your Court, and there were few 
who understood it ; and finally the very great courage of your 
Highnesses caused it to be tried, against the opinion of those 
who contradicted it. And now the truth appears, and it 
will appear before long, much greater ; and if this is mainland, 
it is a thing of wonder, and it will be so among all the learned, 
since so great a river flows out that it makes a fresh-water sea 
of 48 leagues." These are his words. . . ? 

Having finished this digression let us return then to our 
history and to what the Admiral resolved to do in the place 
where he was, and that is, going as fast as possible, he wished 
to come to this Espanola, for some reasons which impelled 
him greatly: one, because he was going with great anxiety 

* Francis de Mayrones was an eminent Scotist philosopher. He died in 
1327. Columbus here quotes from his Thcologicae Veritates (Venice, 1493). 
See Raccolta Colombiana, Parte I., tomo II., p. 377. Las Casas (II. 266) 
was unable to verify the citation from St. Augustine. 

^ The passage omitted, Las Casas, II. 265-307, consists first, pp. 265-267, 
of his comments on these words of Columbus, and second, pp. 268-274, of 
a criticism of Vespucci's claim to have made a voyage in 1497 to this region 
of Paria, and of his narratives and the naming of America from him. This 
criticism is translated with Las Casas's other trenchant criticisms of Vespucci's 
work and claims by Sir Clements R. Markham in his Letters of Amerigo 
Vespucci (London, 1894), pp. 68 et seq. These passages are very interest- 
ing as perhaps the earliest piece of detailed critical work relating to the 
discoveries, and they still constitute the cornerstone of the case against 
Vespucci. The third portion of the omitted passage, pp. 275-306, is a long 
essay on the location of the earthly paradise which Columbus placed in this 
new mainland he had just discovered. Cf. Columbus's letter on the Third 
Voyage. Major, Select Letters of Columbus, pp. 140-146. 



360 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

and affliction, as he had not had news of the condition of this 
island for so many days ; and it would seem that he had some 
premonition of the disorder and the losses and the travail 
which with the rising of Francisco Roldan^ all this land and 
his brothers were suffering; the other in order to despatch 
immediately the Adelantado, his brother, with three ships, to 
continue his discovery of the mainland which he had already 
begun to explore; and it is certain that if Francisco Roldan 
with his rebelHon and shamelessness had not prevented him, 
the Admiral or his brother for him would have discovered 
the mainland as far as New Spain; but, according to the 
decree of Divine Providence, the hour of its discovery had not 
come, nor was the permission recalled ^ by which many were 
being enabled to distinguish themselves in unjust works under 
color of making discoveries. 

The third cause which hastened him in coming to this island, 
was from seeing that the supplies were spoiling and being lost, 
of which he had such great need for the relief of those who 
were here, which made him weep again, considering that he 
had obtained them with great difficulties and fatigues, and he 
says that, if they are lost, he has no hope of getting others, 
from the great opposition he always encountered from those 
who counselled the Sovereigns, '^who," he says here, '^are 
not friends nor desire the honor of the high condition of their 
Highnesses, the persons who have spoken evil to them of such 
a noble undertaking. Nor was the cost so great that it should 
not be expended, although benefits might not be had quickly 
to recompense it, since the service was very great which was 
rendered our Lord in spreading His Holy Name through un- 

* On the Roldan revolt, see Irving, Christopher Columbus, II. 199 et seqq. 

^ April 10, 1495, the sovereigns authorized independent exploring expe- 
ditions. Columbus protested that such expeditions infringed upon his 
rights, and so, June 2, 1497, the sovereigns modified their ordinance and 
prohibited any infringements. Apparently Las Casas is in error in saying 
the permission had not been recalled in 1498, but the independent voyages 
of Hojeda and Pinzon, who first explored the northern coast of South America 
(Paria) in 1499-1500, may have led him to conclude that the authorization 
had not been recalled. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 361 

known lands. And besides this, it would be a much greater 
memorial than any Prince had left, spiritual and temporal." 
And the Admiral says further, ''And for this the revenue of 
a good bishopric or archbishopric would be well secured, and 
I say," says he, ''as good as the best in Spain, since there 
are here so many resources and as yet no priesthood. They 
may have heard that here there are infinite peoples, which 
may have determined the sending here of learned and in- 
telligent persons and friends of Christ to try and make them 
Christians and commence the work; the estabhshment of 
which bishopric I am very sure will be made, please our Lord, 
and the revenues will soon come from here and be carried 
there." These are his words. How much truth he spoke and 
how clear a case there was of inattention and remissness and 
lukewarmness of charity in the men of that day, spiritual or 
ecclesiastical and temporal, who held the power and resources, 
not to make provision for the healing and conversion of these 
peoples, so disposed and ready to receive the faith, the day of 
universal judgment will reveal. 

The fourth cause for coming to this island and not stopping 
to discover more, which he would have very much wished, as 
he says, was because the seamen did not come prepared to 
make discoveries, since he says that he did not dare to say in 
Castile that he came with intention to make discoveries, be- 
cause they would have placed some impediments in his way, 
or would have demanded more money of him than he had, 
and he says that the people were becoming very tired. The 
fifth cause, was because the ships he had were large for making 
discoveries, as the one was of more than 100 tons and 
the other more than 70, and only smaller ones are needed 
to make discoveries; and because of the ship which he took 
on his first voyage being large, he lost it in the harbor of 
Navidad, kingdom of the King Guacanagari.^ Also the sixth 
reason which very much constrained him to leave the dis- 
coveries and come to this island, was because of having his 
eyes almost lost from not sleeping, from the long and continued 

* See Journal of First Voyage, December 25. 



362 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

watches or vigils he had had ; and in this place he says thus : 
''May it please our Lord to free me from this malady," he 
says. "He well knows that I did not suffer these fatigues in 
order to find treasures for myself, since surely I recognize that 
all is vanity which is done in this age, save that which is for 
the honor and service of God, which is not to amass pomps 
or riches, nor the many other things we use in this world, in 
which we are more inchned than to the things which can save 
us." These are his words. 

Truly this man had a good Christian purpose and was very 
contented with his own estate and desired in a moderate 
degree to maintain himself in it, and to rest from such sore 
travail, which he fully merited; yet the result of his sweat 
and toil was to impose a greater burden on the Sovereigns, 
and I do not know what greater was necessary than had already 
fallen to them, and even he had imposed obligations on them, 
except that he kept seeing that little importance was made of 
his distinguished services that he had performed, and that all 
at once the estimation of these Indies which was held at first 
was declining and coming to naught, through those that had 
the ears of the Sovereigns, so that he feared each day greater 
disfavors and that the Sovereigns might give up the whole 
business and thus his sweat and travail be entirely lost. 

Having determined, then, to come as quickly as he could 
to this island, Wednesday, August 15, which was the day of 
the Assumption of Our Lady, after the rising of the sun, he 
ordered the anchors weighed from where he was anchored, 
which must have been within the small gulf which Margarita 
and the other islands make with the mainland (and he must 
have been near Margarita as we said above, ch. 139), and 
sailed on the way to this island; and, pursuing his way, he 
saw very clearly Margarita and the little islands which were 
there, and also, the farther away he went, he discovered 
more high land of the continent. And he went that day 
from sunrise to sunset 63 leagues, because of the great cur- 
rents which supplemented the wind. . . .^ 

* The passage omitted, II. 309-313, of the printed edition, gives an 



1498] LAS CASAS ON" THE THIRD VOYAGE 363 

Let us return to the voyage of the Admiral, whom we left 
started from the neighborhood of the island of Margarita, and 
he went that day, Wednesday, 63 leagues from sun to sun, as 
they say. The next day, Thursday, August 16, he navigated 
to the north-west, quarter of the north,^ 26 leagues, with the 
sea calm, 'Hhanks be to God," as he always said. He tells 
here a wonderful thing, that when he left the Canaries for 
this Espaiiola, having gone 300 leagues to the west, then the 
needles declined to the north-west ^ one quarter, and the North 
Star did not rise but 5 degrees, and now in this voyage it 
has not declined to the north-west ^ until last night, when it 
declined more than a quarter and a half, and some needles 
declined a half wind which are two quarters ; ^ and this hap- 
pened suddenly last night. And he says each night he was 
marvelling at such a change in the heavens, and of the tempera- 
ture there, so near the equinoctial line, which he experienced 
in all this voyage, after having found land; especially the 
sun being in Leo, where, as has been told, in the mornings a 
loose gown was worn, and where the people of that place — 
Gracia — were actually whiter than the people who have been 
seen in the Indies. He also found in the place where he now 
came, that the North Star was in 14 degrees when the Guar- 
dians ^ had passed from the head after two hours and a half. 
Here he again exhorted the Sovereigns to esteem this affair 
highly, since he had shown them that there was in this land 
gold, and he had seen in it minerals without number, which 
will have to be extracted with intelligence, industry and labor, 
since even the iron, as much as there is, cannot be taken out 
without these sacrifices; and he has taken them a nugget of 

account of the voyage and arrival of the vessels which came to Espaiiola 
directly from the Canaries. 

^ Northwest by north. 

* Northeast in the printed text. 

' The circle of the horizon, represented by the compass card, was conceived 
of as divided into eight winds and each wind into halves and quarters, the 
quarters corresponding to the modern points of the compass, which are 
thirty-two in number. The decHnation observed was two points of the 
compass, or 22° 30'. 

* See above, p. 329, note 2. 



364 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1498 

20 ounces and many others, and where this is, it must be 
beUeved there is plenty, and he took their Highnesses a lump 
of copper originally of six arrohas,^ lapis-lazuli, gum-lac, amber, 
cotton, pepper, cinnamon, a great quantity of Brazil-wood, 
aromatic gum,^ white and yellow sandalwood, flax, aloes, 
ginger, incense, myrobolans of all kinds, very fine pearls and 
pearls of a reddish color, which Marco Polo says arc worth 
more than the white ones,^ and that may well be so in some 
parts just as it is the case with the shells that are gathered 
in Canaria and are sold for so great a price in the Mine of 
Portugal. ''There are infinite kinds of spices which have 
been seen of which I do not care to speak for fear of prolixity." 
All these are his words. 

As to what he says of cinnamon, and aloes and ginger, 
incense, myrobolans, sandal woods, I never saw them in this 
island, at least I did not recognize them; what he says of 
flax must mean cabuya * which are leaves like the cavila from 
which thread is made and cloth or linen can be made from 
it, but it is more hke hemp cloth than linen. There are two 
sorts of it, cabuya and nequen; cabuya is coarse and rough 
and nequen is soft and delicate. Both are words of this 
island Espanola. Storax gum I never smelled except in the 
island of Cuba, but I did not see it, and this is certain that 
in Cuba there must be trees of it, or of a gum that smells like 
it, because we never smelled it except in the fires that the 
Indians make of wood that they burn in their houses. It is 
a most perfect perfume, certainly. I never knew of incense 
being found in these islands. 

Returning to the journey, Friday, August 17, he went 37 
leagues, the sea being smooth, "to God our Lord," he says, 
"may infinite thanks be given." He says that not finding 
islands now, assures him that that land from whence he came 
is a vast mainland, or where the Earthly Paradise is, "be- 

* An arroba was twenty-five pounds. 

^ Estoraque, officinal storax, a gum used for incense. 
» Cj. Marco Polo, bk. in., ch. ii. 

* Pita, the fibre of the American agave. 



1498] LAS CASAS ON THE THIRD VOYAGE 365 

cause all say that it is at the end of the east, and this is the 
Earthly Paradise," ^ says he. 

Saturday, between day and night, he went 39 leagues. 

Sunday, August 19, he went in the day and the night 33 
leagues, and reached land; and this was a very small island 
which he called Madama Beata, and which is now commonly 
so called. This is a small island of a matter of a league and 
a half close by this island of Espanola, and distant from this 
port of Sancto Domingo about 50 leagues and distant 15 
leagues from the port of Yaquino, which is more to the west. 
There is next to it another smaller one which has a small but 
somewhat high mountain, which from a distance looks like a 
sail, and he named it Alto Velo.^ He believed that the Beata 
was a small island which he called Sancta Catherhia when he 
came by this southern coast, from the discovery of the island 
of Cuba, and distant from this port of Sancto Domingo 25 
leagues, and is next to this island. It weighed upon him to 
have fallen off in his course so much, and he says it should 
not be counted strange, since during the nights he was from 
caution beating about to windward, for fear of running against 
some islands or shoals; there was therefore reason for this 
error, and thus in not following a straight course, the cur- 
rents, which are very strong here, and which flow down 
towards the mainland and the west, must have carried the 
ships, without realizing it, so low. They run so violently 
there toward La Beata that it has happened that a ship has 
been eight months in those waters without being able to 
reach this port and that much of delay in coming from there 
here, has happened many times. 

Therefore he anchored now between the Beata and this 
island, between which there are two leagues of sea, Monday, 
August 20. He then sent the boats to land to call Indians, 

' Cf. the letter on the Third Voyage, Major, Select Letters of Columbus, 
p. 140, for Columbus's reasoning and beliefs about the Earthly Paradise or 
Garden of Eden ; for Las Casas's discussion of the question, see Historia de 
las Indias, II. 275-306. 

' High sail. 



366 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 

as there were villages there, in order to write of his arrival 
to the Adelantado ; having come at midday, he despatched 
them. Twice there came to the ship six Indians, and one of 
them carried a crossbow with its cord, and nut and rack,^ 
which caused him no small surprise, and he said, ''May it 
please God that no one is dead." And because from Sancto 
Domingo the three ships must have been seen to pass down- 
ward, and concluding that it certainly was the Admiral as he 
was expecting him each day, the Adelantado started then in 
a caravel and overtook the Admiral here. They both were 
very much pleased to see each other. The Admiral having 
asked him about the condition of the country, the Adelantado 
recounted to him how Francisco Roldan had arisen with 80 
men, with all the rest of the occurrences which had passed 
in this island, since he left it. What he felt on hearing such 
news, there is small need to recite. 

He left there, Wednesday, August 22, and finally with some 
difficulty because of the many currents and the north-east 
breezes which are continuous and contrary there he arrived 
at this port of Sancto Domingo, Friday, the last day of August 
of the said year 1498, having set out from Isabela for Castile, 
Thursday the tenth day of March, 1496, so that he delayed 
in returning to this island two years and a half less nine days. 

^ The rack was used to bend the crossbow. 



?al 



LETTER OF COLUMBUS TO THE NURSE 
OF PRINCE JOHN 



INTRODUCTION 

This letter was addressed by Columbus to Dona Juana 
de Torres, who had been a nurse of the lately deceased royal 
prince Jolrn, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella, and who was 
the sister of Antonio de Torres, who had accompanied Colum- 
bus on his second voyage and was subsequently a com- 
mander in other voyages to the New World. It was probably 
written on shipboard when Columbus was sent back to Spain 
in irons in the autumn of the year 1500. It is at once a cry 
of distress and an impassioned self-defence, and is one of the 
most important of the Admiral's writings for the student of 
his career and character. 

In the letter to Santangel the discoverer announces his 
success in his long projected midertaking ; in the letter to the 
nurse he is at the lowest point in the startling reverse of for- 
tune that befell him because of the troubles in Santo Domingo, 
and in the letter on the fourth voyage he appears as one strug- 
gling against the most adverse circumstances to vindicate his 
career, and to demonstrate the value of what he had previously 
accomphshed, and to crown those achievements by actually 
attaining the coast of Asia. Columbus regarded his defence 
as set forth in this letter as of such importance that he in- 
cluded it in the four codices or collections of documents and 
papers prepared in duplicate before his last voyage to authen- 
ticate his titles and honors and to secure their inheritance by 
his son. The text of the letter from which the present trans- 
lation was made is that of the Paris Codex of the Book of 
Privileges, as it is called. This is regarded by Harrisse as the 

2 b 369 



370 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 

best. The translation is by George F. Barwick of the British 
Museum, and was originally published in Christopher Columbus, 
Facsimile of his Own Book of Privileges, 1502, edited by B. F. 
Stevens (London, 1903). The letter remained unpublished 
until it was printed in Spotomo's Codice Diplomatico in 1822. 
In 1825 it appeared again in Navarre te's Viages, in a slightly 
varying text. It was first published in English in the trans- 
lation of the Codice Diplomatico issued in London in 1823 under 
the title of Memorials of Columbus, etc. 

E. G. B. 



TRANSCRIPT OF A LETTER WHICH THE 
ADMIRAL OF THE INDIES SENT TO 
THE NURSE OF PRINCE DON JOHN 
OF CASTILE 

IN THE YEAR 1500 WHEN HE WAS RETURNING 
FROM THE INDIES AS A PRISONER 

Most virtuous Lady : — 

Though rny complaint of the world is new, its habit of ill- 
using is very ancient. I have had a thousand struggles with 
it, and have thus far withstood them all, but now neither arms 
nor counsels avail me, and it cruelly keeps me under water. 
Hope in the Creator of all men sustains me; His help was 
always very ready; on another occasion, and not long ago, 
when I was still more overwhelmed, he raised me with his 
right arm, saying, man of little faith, arise, it is I; be not 
afraid.^ 

I came with so much cordial affection to serve these Princes, 
and have served them with such service, as has never been 
heard of or seen. 

Of the new heaven and earth which our Lord made, when 
Saint John was writing the Apocalypse,^ after what was spoken 
by the mouth of Isaiah,^ he made me the messenger, and 
showed me where it lay. In all men there was disbelief, but 
to the Queen my Lady He gave the spirit of understanding, 

* An echo of the words of Jesus to Peter when he began to sink, " thou 
of Uttle faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Matthew, xiv. 31. 

^ Revelation, xxi. 1. "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for 
the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." 

* "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth." Isaiah, lxv. 17. 

371 



372 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1500 

and great courage, and made her heiress of all, as a dear and 
much loved daughter. I went to take possession of all this 
in her royal name. They sought to make amends to her for 
the ignorance they had all shown by passing over their little 
knowledge, and talking of obstacles and expenses. Her High- 
ness, on the other hand, approved of it, and supported it as 
far as she was able. 

Seven years passed in discussion, and nine in execution.^ 
During this time very remarkable and noteworthy things oc- 
curred whereof no idea at all had been formed. I have arrived 
at, and am in such a condition that there is no person so vile 
but thinks he may insult me; he shall be reckoned in the 
world as valor itself who is courageous enough not to consent 
to it. 

If I were to steal the Indies or the land which lies towards 
them,^ of which I am now speaking, from the altar of Saint 
Peter, and give them to the Moors, they could not show 
greater enmity towards me in Spain. Who would believe such 
a thing where there was always so much magnanimity ? 

I should have much desired to free myself from this affair 
had it been honorable towards my Queen to do so. The sup- 
port of Our Lord and of Her Highness made me persevere; 
and to alleviate in some measure the sorrows which death had 
caused her,^ I undertook a fresh voyage to the new heaven 
and earth which up to that time had remained hidden; and 
if it is not held there in esteem like the other voyages to the 
Indies, that is no wonder because it came to be looked upon 
as my work. 

The Holy Spirit inflamed Saint Peter and twelve others 
with him, and they all fought here below, and their toils 
and hardships were many, but last of all they gained the 
victory. 

1 1485-1491 inc. and 1492-1500 inc. 

^ Sy yo robara las Yndias o tierra que jaz fase ellas, etc. In the trans- 
lation jaz fase is taken to stand for yace hacia. This supposition makes 
sense and is probably correct. The reading of the other text is " que san 
face ellas." Navarre te says that neither one is intelligible. 

s The death of Prince John, October 4, 1497. 



1500] LETTER TO THE NURSE OF PRINCE JOHN" 373 

This voyage to Paria ^ I thought would somewhat appease 
them on account of the pearls, and of the discovery of gold 
in Espanola. I ordered the pearls to be collected and fished 
for by people with whom an arrangement was made that I 
should return for them, and, as I understood, they were to 
be measured by the bushel.^ If I did not write about this to 
their Highnesses, it was because I wished to have first of all 
done the same thing with the gold. The result to me in this 
has been the same as in many other things ; I should not have 
lost them nor my honor, if I had sought my own advantage, 
and had allowed Espanola to be ruined, or if my privileges 
and contracts had been observed. And I say just the same 
about the gold which I had then collected, and [for] which 
with such great afflictions and toils I have, by divine power, 
almost perfected [the arrangements]. 

When I went from Paria I found almost half the people of 
Espanola in revolt,^ and they have waged war against me 
until now, as against a Moor; and the Indians on the other 
side grievously [harassed me]. At this time Hojeda arrived ^ 
and tried to put the finishing stroke : he said that their High- 
nesses had sent him with promises of gifts, franchises and pay ; 
he gathered together a great band, for in the whole of Espanola 
there are very few save vagabonds, and not one with wife 
and children. This Hojeda gave me great trouble; he was 
obliged to depart, and left word that he would soon return 
with more ships and people, and that he had left the royal 
person of the Queen our Lady at the point of death. Then 
Vincent Yanez ^ arrived with four caravels ; there was dis- 

^ The name given to that part of the mainland of South America which 
Columbus discovered on his third voyage. 

^ I.e., so great was their abundance. 

' On this revolt, see Bourne, Spain in America, p. 49 et seqq., and in greater 
detail, Irving, Columbus, ed. 1868, II. 109 et seqq. 

* Hojeda sailed in May, 1499. Las Casas's account of his voyage is 
translated by Markham in his Letters of Amerigo Vespucci, Hakluyt Society 
(London, 1894), p. 78 et seqq. See also Irving, Columbus, III. 23-42. 
He was accompanied on this voyage by Amerigo Vespucci. 

^ Vicente Yanez Pinzon set sail from Palos, November 18, 1499. For his 
voyage, see Irving, Columbus, III. 49-58. 



374 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1500 

turbance and mistrust, but no mischief; the Indians talked 
of many others at the Canibales [Caribbee Islands] and in 
Paria; and afterwards spread the news of six other caravels, 
which were brought by a brother of the Alcalde,^ but it was 
with malicious intent. This occurred at the very last, when 
the hope that their Highnesses would ever send any ships to 
the Indies was almost abandoned, nor did we expect them; 
and it was commonly reported that her Highness was dead. 

A certain Adrian about this time endeavored to rise in 
rebellion again, as he had done previously, but Our Lord did 
not permit his evil purpose to succeed. I had purposed in 
myself never to touch a hair of anybody's head, but I lament 
to say that with this man, owing to his ingratitude, it was 
not possible to keep that resolve as I had intended ; I should 
not have done less to my brother, if he had sought to kill me, 
and steal the dominion which my King and Queen had given 
me in trust. ^ This Adrian, as it appears, had sent Don Fer- 
dinand ^ to Xaragua to collect some of his followers, and there 
a dispute arose with the Alcalde from which a deadly contest 
ensued, but he [Adrian] did not effect his purpose. The 
Alcalde seized him and a part of his band, and the fact was 
that he would have executed them if I had not prevented it; 
they were kept prisoners awaiting a caravel in which they 
might depart. The news of Hojeda which I told them, made 
them lose the hope that he would now come again. 

For six months I had been prepared to return to their High- 
nesses with the good news of the gold, and to escape from 
governing a dissolute people, who fear neither God, nor their 
King and Queen, being full of vices and wickedness. I could 
have paid the people in full with six hundred thousand,^ and 
for this purpose I had four milhons of tenths and somewhat 

^ The Alcalde was Roldan, the leader of the revolt. He was alcalde 
mayor of the city of Isabela and of the whole island, i.e., the chief justice. 
Las Casas, Historia de las Indias, IL 124. 

^ On the career in Espanola of Adrian de Muxica and his execution, see 
Irving, Columbus, II. 283 et seqq, 

^ Ferdinand de Guevara. See Irving, Columbus, II. 283 et seqq. 

* I.e., maravedis, equivalent to about $4000. 



1500] LETTER TO THE NURSE OF PRINCE JOHN 375 

more, besides the third of the gold. Before my departure I 
many times begged their Highnesses to send there, at my 
expense, some one to take charge of the administration of 
justice; and after finding the Alcalde in arms I renewed my 
supplications to have either some troops or at least some 
servant of theirs with letters patent; for my reputation is 
such that even if I build churches and hospitals, they will 
always be called dens of thieves. They did indeed make pro- 
vision at last, but it was the very contrary of what the matter 
demanded: may it be successful, since it was according to 
their good pleasure. 

I was there for two years without being able to gain a decree 
of favor for myself or for those who went there, yet this man ^ 
brought a coffer full; whether they will all redound to their 
[Highnesses'] service, God knows. Indeed, to begin with, 
there are exemptions for twenty years, which is a man's life- 
time; and gold is collected to such an extent that there was 
one person who became worth five marks ^ in four hours ; 
whereof I will speak more fully later on. 

If it would please their Highnesses to remove the grounds 
of a common saying of those who know my labors, that the 
calumny of the people has done me more harm than much 
service and the maintenance of their [Highnesses'] property 
and dominion has done me good, it would be a charity, and I 
should be re-established in my honor, and it would be talked 
about all over the world; for the undertaking is of such a 
nature that it must daily become more famous and in higher 
esteem. 

When the commander Bobadilla came to Santo Domingo/ 
I was at La Vega, and the Adelantado * at Xaragua, where 
that Adrian had made a stand, but then all was quiet, and 

' Bobadilla, the successor of Columbus as governor, who sent him back 
in chains. 

* A mark was eight ounces or two-thirds of a Troy pound. Here it is 
probably the silver mark as a measure of value, which was about $3.25. If 
the word is used as a measure of weight of gold, it would be about $150. 

' Bobadilla arrived at Santo Domingo August 23, 1500. 

* Bartholomew Columbus. 



376 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1500 

the land rich and all men at peace. On the second day after 
his arrival he created himself Governor, and appointed officers 
and made executions, and proclaimed immunities of gold and 
tenths and in general of everything else for twenty years, 
which is a man's lifetime, and that he came to pay everybody 
in full up to that day, even though they had not rendered 
service ; and he publicly notified that, as for me, he had charge 
to send me in irons, and my brothers likewise, as he has done, 
and that I should nevermore return thither, nor any other of 
my family; alleging a thousand disgraceful and discourteous 
things about me. All this took place on the second day after 
his arrival, as I have said, and while I was absent at a distance, 
without my knowing either of him or of his arrival. 

Some letters of their Highnesses signed in blank, of which 
he brought a number, he filled up and sent to the Alcalde and 
to his company, with favors and commendations; to me he 
never sent either letter or messenger, nor has he done so to 
this day. Imagine what any one holding my office would 
think when one who endeavored to rob their Highnesses, and 
who has done so much evil and mischief, is honored and 
favored, while he who maintained it at such risks is degraded. 

When I heard this, I thought that this affair would be like 
that of Hojeda or one of the others, but I restrained myself 
when I learnt for certain from the friars that their Highnesses 
had sent him. I wrote to him that his arrival was welcome, 
and that I was prepared to go to the Court and had sold all I 
possessed by auction ; and that with respect to the immunities 
he should not be hasty, for both that matter and the govern- 
ment I would hand over to him immediately as smooth as my 
palm. And I wrote to the same effect to the friars, but 
neither he nor they gave me any answer. On the contrary, 
he put himself in a warlike attitude, and compelled all who 
went there to take an oath to him as Governor; and they 
told me that it was for twenty years. 

Directly I knew of those immunities, I thought that I would 
repair such a great error and that he would be pleased, for he 
gave them without the need or occasion necessary in so vast 



1500] LETTER TO THE KURSE OF PRINCE JOHN 377 

a matter; and he gave to vagabond people what would have 
been excessive for a man who had brought wife and children. 
So I announced by word and letters that he could not use his 
patents because mine were those in force ; and I showed them 
the immunities which Juan Aguado ^ brought. All this was 
done by me in order to gain time, so that their Highnesses 
might be informed of the condition of the country, and that 
they might have an opportunity of issuing fresh commands as 
to what would best promote their service in that respect. 

It is useless to pubhsh such immunities in the Indies; to 
the settlers who have taken up residence it is a pure gain, for 
the best lands are given to them, and at a low valuation they 
will be worth two hundred thousand at the end of the four 
years when the period of residence is ended, without their 
digging a spadeful in them. I would not speak thus if the 
settlers were married, but there are not six among them all 
who are not on the lookout to gather what they can and de- 
part speedily. It would be a good thing if people should go 
from Castile, and also if it were known who and what they 
are, and if the country could be settled with honest people. 

I had agreed with those settlers that they should pay the 
third of the gold, and the tenths, and this at their own request ; 
and they received it as a great favor from their Highnesses. 
I reproved them when I heard that they ceased to do this, 
and hoped that the Commander would do likewise, but he 
did the contrary. He incensed them against me by saying 
that I wanted to deprive them of what their Highnesses had 
given them ; and he endeavored to set them at variance with 
me, and did so ; and he induced them to write to their High- 
nesses that they should never again send me back to the gov- 
ernment, and I likewise make the same supplication to them 
for myself and for my whole family, as long as there are not 
different inhabitants. And he together with them ordered in- 
quisitions concerning me for wickednesses the like whereof 

^ Juan Aguado arrived from Spain in October, 1495. Las Casas, Historia 
de las Indias, IL 109 et seqq., gives a full account of his mission. See 
also Irving, Columbus, ed. 1868, II. 77 et seqq. 



378 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1500 

were never known in hell. Our Lord, who rescued Daniel and 
the three children/ is present with the same wisdom and 
power as he had then, and with the same means, if it should 
please him and be in accordance with his will. 

I should know how to remedy all this, and the rest of what 
has been said and has taken place since I have been in the 
Indies, if my disposition would allow me to seek my own 
advantage, and if it seemed honorable to me to do so, but 
the maintenance of justice and the extension of the dominion 
of Her Highness has hitherto kept me down. Now that so 
much gold is found, a dispute arises as to which brings more 
profit, whether to go about robbing or to go to the mines. A 
hundred castellanos ^ are as easily obtained for a woman as 
for a farm, and it is very general, and there are plenty of 
dealers who go about looking for girls ; those from nine to ten 
are now in demand, and for all ages a good price must be paid. 

I assert that the violence of the calumny of turbulent per- 
sons has injured me more than my services have profited me; 
which is a bad example for the present and for the future. I 
take my oath that a number of men have gone to the Indies 
who did not deserve water in the sight of God and of the world ; 
and now they are returning thither, and leave is granted them.^ 

I assert that when I declared that the Commander * could 
not grant immunities, I did what he desired, although I told 
him that it was to cause delay until their Highnesses should 
receive information from the country, and should command 
anew what might be for their service. He excited their enmity 
against me, and he seems, from what took place and from his 
behavior, to have come as my enemy and as a very vehement 
one; or else the report is true that he has spent much to ob- 

* Cf. Daniel, chs. iii. and vi. 

^ The castellano was one-sixth of an ounce, or in value about $3. 

' See Bourne, (Spam in America, p. 50, for Columbus's bitter characteriza- 
tion of the Spaniards in Espailola in 1498, and p. 46 for the royal authori- 
zation in June, 1497, to transport criminals to the island. The terrible 
consequences of this policy led the Spanish government later to adopt 
the strictest regulations controlling emigration to the New World. Cj. 
Spain in America, ch. xvi. 

* Bobadilla was a knight commander of the military order of Calatrava. 



1500] LETTER TO THE NURSE OF PRINCE JOHN 379 

tain this employment. I do not know more about it than 
what I hear. I never heard of an inquisitor gathering rebels 
together and accepting them, and others devoid of credit and 
unworthy of it, as witnesses against their governor. 

If their Highnesses were to make a general inquisition there, 
I assure you that they would look upon it as a great wonder 
that the island does not founder. 

I think your Ladyship will remember that when, after 
losing my sails, I was driven into Lisbon by a tempest, I was 
falsely accused of having gone there to the King in order to 
give him the Indies. Their Highnesses afterwards learned 
the contrary, and that it was entirely malicious. Although 
I may know but little, I do not think anyone considers me so 
stupid as not to know that even if the Indies were mine I 
could not uphold myself without the help of some prince. If 
this be so, where could I find better support and security than 
in the King and Queen our Lords, who have raised me from 
nothing to such great honor, and are the most exalted princes 
of the world on sea and on land, and who consider that I have 
rendered them service, and preserve to me my privileges and 
rewards; and if anyone infringes them, their Highnesses in- 
crease them still more, as was seen in the case of Juan Aguado ; 
and they order great honor to be conferred upon me, and, as I 
have already said, their Highnesses have received service from 
me, and keep my sons in their household ; ^ all which could 
by no means happen with another prince, for where there is 
no affection, everything else fails. 

I have now spoken thus in reply to a malicious slander, 
but against my will, as it is a thing which should not recur to 
memory even in dreams ; for the Commander Bobadilla mali- 
ciously seeks in this way to set his own conduct and actions in 
a brighter light ; but I shall easily show him that his small 
knowledge and great cowardice, together with his inordinate 
cupidity, have caused him to fail therein. 

1 Diego Columbus had been appointed a page to Prince John in 1492. 
Navarrete, Viages, II. 17. At this time, 1500, both Diego and Ferdinand 
were pages in the Queen's household. Historie, ed. 1867, p. 276. 



380 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1500 

I have already said that I wrote to him and to the friars, 
and immediately set out, as I told him, almost alone, because 
all the people were with the Adelantado, and likewise in order 
to prevent suspicion on his part. When he heard this, he 
seized Don Diego ^ and sent him on board a caravel loaded 
with irons, and did the same to me upon my arrival, and after- 
wards to the Adelantado when he came ; nor did I speak to 
him any more, nor to this day has he allowed anyone to speak 
to me; and I take my oath that I cannot understand why I 
am made a prisoner. He made it his first business to seize the 
gold, which he did without measuring or weighing it, and in 
my absence ; he said that he wanted it to pay the people, and 
according to what I hear he assigned the chief part to himself 
and sent fresh exchangers for the exchanges. Of this gold I 
had put aside certain specimens, very big lumps, like the eggs 
of geese, hens, and pullets, and of many other shapes, which 
some persons had collected in a short space of time, in order that 
their Highnesses might be gladdened, and might comprehend 
the business upon seeing a quantity of large stones full of gold. 
This collection was the first to be given away, with malicious 
intent, so that their Highnesses should not hold the matter 
in any account until he has feathered his nest, which he is in 
great haste to do. Gold which is for melting diminishes at 
the fire ; some chains which would weigh about twenty marks 
have never been seen again. I have been more distressed about 
this matter of the gold than even about the pearls, because 
I have not brought it to Her Highness. 

The Commander at once set to work upon anything which 
he thought would injure me. I have already said that with 
six hundred thousand I could pay everyone without defraud- 
ing anybody, and that I had more than four millions of tenths 
and constabulary [dues], without touching the gold. He made 
some free gifts which are ridiculous, though I believe that he 
began by assigning the chief part to himself. Their High- 
nesses will find it out when they order an account to be obtained 
from him, especially if I should be present thereat. He does 
1 The younger brother of the Admiral. 



1500] LETTER TO THE NUKSE OF PRINCE JOHN 381 

nothing but reiterate that a large sum is owing, and it is what 
I have said, and even less. I have been much distressed that 
there should be sent concerning me an inquisitor who is aware 
that if the inquisition which he returns is very grave he will 
remain in possession of the government. 

Would that it had pleased our Lord that their Highnesses 
had sent him or some one else two years ago, for I know that 
I should now be free from scandal and infamy, and that my 
honor would not be taken from me, nor should I lose it. God 
is just, and will make known the why and the wherefore. 

They judge me over there as they would a governor who had 
gone to Sicily, or to a city or town placed under regular gov- 
ernment, and where the laws can be observed in their entirety 
without fear of ruining everything; and I am greatly injured 
thereby. I ought to be judged as a captain who went from 
Spain to the Indies to conquer a numerous and warlike people, 
whose customs and religion are very contrary to ours; who 
live in rocks and mountains, without fixed settlements, and 
not hke ourselves; and where, by the divine will, I have 
placed under the dominion of the King and Queen, our sov- 
ereigns, another world, ^ through which Spain, which was reck- 
oned a poor country, has become the richest. I ought to be 
judged as a captain who for such a long time up to this day has 
borne arms without laying them aside for an hour, and by 
gentlemen adventurers and by customs and not by letters, ^ 
unless they were Greeks or Romans, or others of modern 
times of whom there are so many and such noble examples in 
Spain ;^ or otherwise I receive great injury, because in the 
Indies there is neither town nor settlement. 

^ Un otro mundo. See note, p. 352 above. 

^ Caballeros de conquistas y del uso, y no de letras. This should be : 
" Knights of Conquests and by profession and not of letters." I.e., by 
nobles that have actually been conquerors and had conquered territory 
awarded to them and who are knights by practice or profession and not 
gentlemen of letters. 

^ What this means is not altogether clear. Apparently Columbus 
means that men of letters or lawyers in Greece and Rome, great conquer- 
ing nations, would know what standards to apply in his case, and that 
there were some such men of breadth in Spain. 



382 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1500 

The gate to the gold and pearls is now open, and plenty of 
everything — precious stones, spices, and a thousand other 
things — may be surely expected, and never could a worse 
misfortune befall me; for by the name of our Lord the first 
voyage would yield them just as much as would the traffic 
of Arabia Felix as far as Mecca, as I wrote to their Highnesses 
by Antonio de Torres in my reply respecting the repartition 
of the sea and land with the Portuguese; and afterwards it 
would equal that of Calicut, as I told them and put in writing at 
the monastery of Mejorada. 

The news of the gold that I said I would give is, that on the 
day of the Nativity, while I was much tormented, being 
harassed by wicked Christians and by Indians, and when I 
was on the point of giving up everything and, if possible, 
escaping from life, our Lord miraculously comforted me and 
said, ''Fear not violence, I will provide for all things; the 
seven years of the term of the gold have not elapsed, and in 
that and in everything else I will afford thee a remedy." On 
that day I learned that there were eighty leagues of land with 
mines at every point thereof. The opinion now is that it is 
all one. Some have collected a hundred and twenty castel- 
lanos in one day, and others ninety, and even the number of 
two hundred and fifty has been reached. From fifty to sev- 
enty, and in many more cases from fifteen to fifty, is consid- 
ered a good day's work, and many carry it on. The usual 
quantity is from six to twelve, and any one obtaining less than 
this is not satisfied. It seems too that these mines are like 
others, and do not yield equally every day. The mines are 
new, and so are the workers: it is the opinion of everybody 
that even if all Castile were to go there, every individual, how- 
ever inexpert he might be, would not obtain less than one or two 
castellanos daily, and now it is only commencing. It is true 
that they keep Indians, but the business is in the hands of the 
Christians. Behold what discernment Bobadilla had, when he 
gave up everything for nothing, and four millions of tenths, 
without any reason or even being requested, and without first 
notifying it to their Highnesses. And this is not the only loss. 



1500] LETTER TO THE NURSE OF PRINCE JOHN 383 

I know that my errors have not been committed with the 
intention of doing evil, and I believe that their Highnesses 
regard the matter just as I state it; and I know and see that 
they deal mercifully even with those who maliciously act to 
their disservice. I believe and consider it very certain that 
their clemency will be both greater and more abundant towards 
me, for I fell therein through ignorance and the force of cir- 
cumstances, as they will know fully hereafter; and I indeed 
am their creature, and they will look upon my services, and 
will acknowledge day by day that they are much profited. 
They will place ever3rthing in the balance, even as Holy Scrip- 
ture tells us good and evil will be at the day of judgment. If, 
however, they command that another person do judge me, 
which I cannot believe, and that it be by inquisition in the 
Indies, I very humbly beseech them to send thither two 
conscientious and honorable persons at my expense, who I 
believe will easily, now that gold is discovered, find five 
marks in four hours. In either case it is needful for them to 
provide for this matter. 

The Commander on his arrival at Santo Domingo took up 
his abode in my house, and just as he found it so he appro- 
priated everything to himself. Well and good; perhaps he 
was in want of it. A pirate never acted thus towards a mer- 
chant. About my papers I have a greater grievance, for he 
has so completely deprived me of them that I have never been 
able to obtain a single one from him; and those that would 
have been most useful in my exculpation are precisely those 
which he has kept most concealed. Behold the just and 
honest inquisitor! Whatever he may have done, they tell 
me that there has been an end to justice, except in an arbi- 
trary form. God our Lord is present with his strength and 
wisdom, as of old, and always punishes in the end, especially 
ingratitude and injuries. 



LETTER OF COLUMBUS ON THE FOURTH 
VOYAGE 



INTRODUCTION 

The letter on Columbus's last voyage when he explored the 
coast of Central America and of the Isthmus of Panama was 
written when he was shipwrecked on the island of Jamaica, 
1503. It is his last important writing and one of great sig- 
nificance in understanding his geographical conceptions. 

The Spanish text of this letter is not older than the six- 
teenth century and perhaps not older than the seventeenth. 
The Spanish text was first published by Navarrete in his 
Colcccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos, 1825. An Italian 
translation, however, was published in 1505 and is commonly 
known as the Lettera Rarissima. Mr. John Boyd Thacher 
has reproduced this early Italian translation in facsimile in his 
Christopher Columbus, accompanied by a translation into 
English. Cesare de LoUis prepared a critical edition of the 
Spanish text for the Raccolta Colombiana, which was carefully 
collated with and in some instances corrected by this con- 
temporary translation. Most of his changes in punctuation 
and textual emendations have been adopted in the present 
edition, and attention is called to them in the notes. 

The translation is that of R. H. Major as published in the 
revised edition of his Select Letters of Columbus. It has been care- 
fully revised by the present editor, and some important changes 
have been made. As hitherto published in English a good 
many passages in this letter have been so confused and ob- 
scure and some so absolutely unintelligible, that the late 
Justin Winsor characterized this last of the important 
writings of Columbus as '^ a sorrowful index of his wander- 

387 



388 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 

ing reason." ^ Almost every one of these passages has 
yielded up the secret of its meaning either through a more 
exact translation or in the light of the textual emendations 
suggested by de Lollis or proposed by the present editor. 
Among such revisions and textual emendations attention 
may be called to those discussed on pp. 392, 396, 397. As 
here published this letter of Columbus is as coherent and 
intelligible as his other writings. 

The editor wishes here to acknowledge his obligations to 
Professor Henry R. Lang of Yale University, whom he has 
consulted in regard to perplexing passages or possible emen- 
dations, and from whom he has received valuable assistance. 

The other important accounts of this voyage, or of the part 
of it covered by this letter, are the brief report by Diego de 
Porras, of which a translation is given in Thacher's Columbus, 
and those by Ferdinand Columbus in the Historie and Peter 
Martyr in his De Rebus Oceanicis. On this voyage Las Casas's 
source was the account of Ferdinand Columbus. Lollis 
presents some striking evidence to show that the accounts of 
Ferdinand Columbus and Peter Martyr were based upon the 
same original, a lost narrative of the Admiral. It will be re- 
membered, however, that Ferdinand accompanied his father 
on this voyage, and although only a boy of thirteen his narrative 
contains several passages of vivid personal recollection. The 
editor has carefully compared Ferdinand's narrative with the 
account in this letter and noted the important differences. 

E. G. B. 

^Christopher Columbus, p 459; c/. also the passages quoted on p. 460. 



THE FOURTH VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS 

A Letter written by Don Christobal Colon, Viceroy and Ad- 
miral of the Indies, to the most Christian and mighty King 
and Queen of Spain, our Sovereigns, in which are described 
the events of his voyage, and the countries, provinces, cities, 
rivers and other marvellous matters therein discovered, as 
well as the places where gold and other substances of great 
richness and value are to be found 

Most Serene, and very high and mighty Princes, the King 
and Queen our Sovereigns : — 

My passage from Cadiz to the Canary occupied four days, 
and thence to the Indies sixteen days. From which I wrote, 
that my intention was to expedite my voyage as much as pos- 
sible while I had good vessels, good crews and stores, and 
that Jamaica was the place to which I was bound. I wrote 
this in Dominica : ^ — 

Up to the period of my reaching these shores I experienced 
most excellent weather, but the night of my arrival came on 
with a dreadful tempest, and the same bad weather has con- 
tinued ever since. On reaching the island of Espanola^ I 
despatched a packet of letters, by which I begged as a favor 
that a ship should be supplied me at my own cost in lieu of 
one of those that I had brought with me, which had become 
unseaworthy, and could no longer carry sail. The letters 
were taken, and your Highnesses will know if a reply has 
been given to them. For my part I was forbidden to go on 

' The punctuation of this first paragraph has been changed in the Hght 
of the contemporary Italian translation known as the Lettera Rarissima, 
which is given in facsimile and English translation in Thacher's Christopher 
Columbus, II. 671 et seqq. 

^ June 29. Las Casas, III. 29. 

389 



390 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1502 

shore ; ^ the hearts of my people failed them lest I should take 
them further, and they said that if any danger were to befall 
them, they should receive no succor, but, on the contrary, 
in all probability have some great affront offered them. More- 
over every man had it in his power to tell me that the new 
Governor would have the superintendence of the countries 
that I might acquire.^ 

The tempest was terrible throughout the night, all the 
ships were separated, and each one driven to the last ex- 
tremity, without hope of anything but death; each of them 
also looked upon the loss of the rest as a matter of certainty. 
What man was ever born, not even excepting Job, who would 
not have been ready to die of despair at finding himself as I 
then was, in anxious fear for my own safety, and that of my 
son, my brother ^ and my friends, and yet refused permission 
either to land or to put into harbor on the shores which by 
God's mercy I had gained for Spain sweating blood ? 

But to return to the ships: although the tempest had so 
completely separated them from me as to leave me single, 
yet the Lord restored them to me in His own good time. The 
ship which we had the greatest fear for, had put out to sea 
to escape [being blown] toward the island. The Gallega * lost 
her boat and a great part of her provisions, which latter loss 
indeed all the ships suffered. The vessel in which I was, though 
dreadfully buffeted, was saved by our Lord's mercy from any 
injury whatever; my brother went in the ship that was un- 
sound, and he under God was the cause of its being saved. 

^ By the letter of the King and Queen, March 14, 1502, Columbus had 
been forbidden to call at Espanola on the outward voyage. Las Casas, 
Historia de las Indias, IIL 26. 

^ The new governor, Ovando, who had been sent out to supersede Boba- 
dilla, had reached Santo Domingo in April of this year, 1502. 

^ Columbus was accompanied by his younger son Ferdinand and his 
elder brother Bartholomew. Las Casas, III. 25. 

* The translation here follows Lollis's emendation of the text which 
changed the printed text, " habia, echado d la mar, por escapar, fasta la isola 
la Gallega; perdio la barca," etc., to "habia echado d la mar, por escapar 
fasta la isla; la Gallega perdio la barca." One of the ships was named La 
Gallega, and there is no island of that name in that region. 



1502] HIS LETTER ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 391 

With this tempest I struggled on till I reached Jamaica, and 
there the sea became calm, but there was a strong current 
which carried me as far as the Queen's Garden ^ without seeing 
land. Hence as opportunity afforded I pushed on for the 
mainland, in spite of the wind and a fearful contrary current, 
against which I contended for sixty days, and after all only 
made seventy leagues. All this time I was unable to get into 
harbor, nor was there any cessation of the tempest, which 
was one continuation of rain, thunder and lightning ; indeed it 
seemed as if it were the end of the world. I at length reached 
the Cape of Gracias a Dios, and after that the Lord granted 
me fair wind and tide ; this was on the twelfth of September.^ 

^ Columbus set forth from the harbor of Santo Domingo in the storm, 
Friday, July 1 . The ships found refuge- in the harbor of Azua on the follow- 
ing Sunday, July 3. (Ferdinand Columbus in the Historie, ed. 1867, pp. 286- 
287.) Azua is about 50 miles west of Santo Domingo in a straight line, but 
much farther by water. After a rest and repairs the Admiral sailed to Ya- 
quimo, the present Jacmel in the territory of Hayti', into, which port he went 
to escape another storm. He left Yaquimo, July 14. (Las Casas, HL 108 ; 
Ferdinand Columbus, Historie, p. 289.) He then passed south of Jamaica, 
and was carried by the currents northwest till he reached the Queen's Garden, 
a group of many small islands south of Cuba and east of the Isle of Pines, 
so named by him in 1494 on his exploration of the coast of Cuba. 

^ From the Queen's Garden he sailed south July 27 (the Porras narrative 
of this voyage, Navarrete, II. 283 ; in English in Thacher, Columbus, 
II. 640 et seqq.), and after a passage of ninety leagues sighted an island Satur- 
day, July 30. (Porras in Thacher, II. 643.) This was the island of 
Guanaja about twelve leagues north of Trujillo, Honduras. (Las Casas, III. 
109.) Here a landing was made and a canoe was encountered which was 
covered with an awning and contained Indians well clothed and a load of 
merchandise. Notwithstanding these indications of a more advanced culture 
than had hitherto been found, the Admiral decided not to explore the country 
of these Indians, which would have led him into Yucatan and possibly Mexico, 
but to search for the strait which he supposed separated Asia from the con- 
tinental mass he had discovered on his third voyage (Paria, South America) . 
He struck the mainland near Trujillo, naming the point Caxinas. At or 
near this place they landed Sunday, August 14, to say mass. (Las Casas, III. 
112; Ferdinand Colamhus, Historie, p. 295.) From this point he coasted 
very slowly, sailing in sight of land by day and anchoring at night, distressed 
by storms and headwinds, some days losing as much ground as could be 
gained in two, till September 12, when he reached Cape Gracias a Dios. 
(Las Casas, III. 113; Historie, p. 297; Porras narrative in Thacher, 
Columbus, II. 644.) It will be seen from this collation of the sources that 
the statements in our text are far from exact, that they are in fact a very 



392 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1502 

Eighty-eight days did this fearful tempest continue, during 
which I was at sea, and saw neither sun nor stars ; my ships 
lay exposed, with sails torn, and anchors, rigging, cables, 
boats and a great quantity of provisions lost; my people 
were very weak and humbled in spirit, many of them prom- 
ising to lead a religious life, and all making vows and promis- 
ing to perform pilgrimages, while some of them would fre- 
quently go to their messmates to make confession.^ Other 
tempests have been experienced, but never of so long a dura- 
tion or so fearful as this : many whom we looked upon as brave 
men, on several occasions showed considerable trepidation; 
but the distress of my son who was with me grieved me to the 
soul, and the more when I considered his tender age, for he 
was but thirteen years old, and he enduring so much toil for 
so long a time. Our Lord, however, gave him strength even 
to enable him to encourage the rest, and he worked as if he 
had been eighty years at sea, and all this was a consolation to 
me. I myself had fallen sick, and was many times at the 
point of death, but from a little cabin that I had caused to be 

general and greatly exaggerated recollection of a most trying experience. 
It will be remembered that Ferdinand was on this voyage, but his narrative 
says nothing of any storm between July 14 when he left the Queen's Gardens 
and the arrival at Guanaja, a passage which Porras says took three days. 
This passage, however, Las Casas describes apparently on the basis of this 
letter as having taken sixty days (Historia, III. 108). Next the text of 
the Historic presents a difficulty, for it places the tedious stormy voyage of 
sixty leagues and seventy days between Caxinas (Trujillo) and Cape Gracias 
a Dios (Historie, p. 296), although in another place it gives the beginning of 
tliis coasting as after August 14 and the date of arrival at the Cape as Sep- 
tember 12. This last chronological difficulty may perhaps be accounted for 
in this way: The original manuscript of the Historie may have had "XXX 
dias," which a copyist or the Italian translator may have taken for "LXX 
dias." 

^ A review of the chronology of the voyage in the preceding note will 
show that no such storm of eighty-eight days' duration could have occurred 
in the first part of this voyage. Columbus was only seventy-four days in 
going from Santo Domingo to Cabo Gracias a Dios. Either the text is wrong 
or his memory was at fault. The most probable conclusion is that in copying 
either LXXXVIII got substituted for XXVIII or Ochenta y ocho for Veinte 
y ocho. In that case we should have almost exactly the time spent in going 
from Trujillo to Cape Gracias a Dios, August 14 to September 12, and exact 
agreement between our text, the Historie, and the Porras narrative. 



1502] HIS LETTER ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 393 

constructed on deck, I directed our course. My brother was 
in the ship that was in the worst condition and the most ex- 
posed to danger ; and my grief on this account was the greater 
that I brought him with me against his will. 

Such is my fate, that the twenty years of service ^ through 
which I have passed with so much toil and danger, have prof- 
ited me nothing, and at this very day I do not possess a roof 
in Spain that I can call my own; if I wish to eat or sleep, 
I have nowhere to go but to the inn or tavern, and most times 
lack wherewith to pay the bill. Another anxiety wrung my 
very heartstrings, which was the thought of my son Diego, 
whom I had left an orphan in Spain, and dispossessed of my 
honor and property, although I had looked upon it as a cer- 
tainty, that your Majesties, as just and grateful Princes, would 
restore it to him in all respects with increase.^ 

I reached the land of Cariay,^ where I stopped to repair 
my vessels and take in provisions, as well as to afford relaxa- 
tion to the men, who had become very weak. I myself (who, 
as I said before, had been several times at the point of death) 
gained information respecting the gold mines of which I was 
in search, in the province of Ciamba ; * and two Indians con- 
ducted me to Carambaru,^ where the people (who go naked) 

^ Twenty years, speaking approximately. This letter was written in 1503, 
and Columbus entered the service of Spain in 1485. 

^ Diego was the heir of his father's titles. He was appointed governor 
of the Indies in 1508, but a prolonged lawsuit was necessary to establish his 
claims to inherit his father's rights. 

^ Their course was down the Mosquito coast. Cariay was near the mouth 
of the San Juan River of Nicaragua. Las Casas gives the date of the arrival 
at Cariari, as he gives the name, as September 17 (III. 114). The Historie 
gives the date as September 5 and the name as Cariai (p. 297). 

* Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis (ed. 1574), p. 239, says that Columbus 
called Ciamba the region which the inhabitants called Quiriquetana, a name 
which it would seem still survives in Chiriqui Lagoon just east of Almirante 
Bay. The name "Ciamba" appears on Martin Behaim's globe, 1492, as a 
province corresponding to Cochin-China. It is described in Marco Polo 
under the name "Chamba"; see Yule's Marco Polo, II. 248-252 (bk. 
III., ch. v.). 

' Carambaru is the present Almirante Bay, about on the border between 
Costa Rica and Panama. Las Casas describes the bay as six leagues long 
and over three broad with many islands and coves. He gives the name 



394 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1502 

wear golden mirrors round their necks, which they will neither 
sell; give, nor part with for any consideration. They named 
to me many places on the sea-coast where there were both 
gold and mines. The last that they mentioned was Veragua,^ 
which was five-and-twenty leagues distant from the place 
where we then were. I started with the intention of visiting 
all of them, but when I had reached the middle of my journey 
I learned that there were other mines at so short a distance 
that they might be reached in two days. I determined on 
sending to see them. It was on the eve of St. Simon and St. 
Jude,^ which was the day fixed for our departure ; but that 
night there arose so violent a storm, that we were forced to 
go wherever it drove us, and the Indian who was to conduct 
us to the mines was with us all the time. As I had found every 
thing true that had been told me in the different places which 
I had visited, I felt satisfied it would be the same with respect 
to Ciguare,^ which according to their account, is nine days 

as Caravar6 (III. 118). Ferdinand Columbus's account is practically 
identical. 

* Veragua in this letter includes practically all of the present republic of 
Panama. The western quarter of it was granted to Luis Colon, the Admiral's 
grandson, in 1537, as a dukedom in partial compensation for his renouncing 
his hereditary rights. Hence the title Dukes of Veragua borne by the Admi- 
ral's descendants. The name still survives in geography in that of the 
little island Escudo de Veragua, which lies off the northern coast. 

* The eve or vigil of St. Simon and St. Jude is October 27. According to 
the narrative in the Historie, on October 7, they went ashore at the channel 
of Cerabora (Carambaru). A few days later they went on to Aburema. 
October 17 they left Aburema and went twelve leagues to Guaigo, where they 
landed. Thence they went to Cateva (Catiba, Las Casas) and cast anchor in 
a large river (the Chagres). Thence easterly to Cobra va; thence to five 
towns, among wliich was Beragua (Veragua) ; the next day to Cubiga. The 
distance from Cerabora to Cubiga was fifty leagues. Without landing, the 
Admiral went on to Belporto (Puerto Bello), which he so named. (" Puerto 
Bello, which was a matter of six leagues from what we now call El Nombre 
de Dios." Las Casas, III. 121.) He arrived at Puerto Bello November 2, 
and remained there seven days on account of the rains and bad weather. 
{Historic, pp. 302-306.) Apparently Columbus put this period of bad weather 
a few days too early in his recollection of it. 

^ Ciguare. An outlying province of the Mayas lying on the Pacific side 
of southern Costa Rica. Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, p. 240, says, 
"In this great tract {i.e., where the Admiral was) are two districts, the near 
one called Taia, and the further one Maia." 



1502] HIS LETTER ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 395 

journey across the country westward : they tell me there is a 
great quantity of gold there, and that the inhabitants wear 
coral ornaments on their heads, and very large coral bracelets 
and anklets, with which article also they adorn and inlay 
their seats, boxes, and tables. They also said that the women 
there wore necklaces hanging down to their shoulders. All 
the people agree in the report I now repeat, and their account 
is so favorable that I should be content with the tithe of the 
advantages that their description holds out. They are all 
likewise acquainted with the pepper-plant ; * according to the 
account of these people, the inhabitants of Ciguare are accus- 
tomed to hold fairs and markets for carrying on their commerce, 
and they showed me also the mode and form in which they 
transact their various exchanges ; others assert that their ships 
carry cannon, and that the men go clothed and use bows 
and arrows, swords and cuirasses, and that on shore they have 
horses which they use in battle, and that they wear rich 
clothes and have good things.^ They also say that the sea sur- 
rounds Ciguare, and that at ten days' journey from thence is 
the river Ganges ; these lands appear to hold the same relation 
to Veragua, as Tortosa to Fontarabia, or Pisa to Venice.^ 
When I left Carambaru and reached the places in its neighbor- 
hood, which I have mentioned above as being spoken of 
by the Indians, I found the customs of the people correspond 
with the accounts that had been given of them, except as re- 
garded the golden mirrors: any man who had one of them 
would willingly part with it for three hawks'-bells,^although 
they were equivalent in weight to ten or fifteen ducats. These 
people resemble the natives of Espanola in all their habits. 

'■ See p. 311, note 5. 

^ Probably casas, houses, should be the reading here. In the correspond- 
ing passage of the contemporary Italian version the word is "houses." This 
information, mixed as it is with Columbus's misinterpretations of the Indian 
signs and distorted by his preconceptions, was first made public in the 
Italian translation of this letter in 1505 and then gave Europe its first inti- 
mations of the culture of the Mayas. 

^ I.e., in being on either side of a peninsula, Tortosa and Fontarabia 
being on opposite sides of the narrowest part of the Spanish peninsula. 

* See p. 300, note 1. 



396 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1502 

They have various modes of collecting the gold, none of which 
will bear comparison with the plans adopted by the Christians. 
All that I have here stated is from hearsay. This, how- 
ever, I know, that in the year ninety-four I sailed twenty- 
four degrees to the westward in nine hours, ^ and there can be 
no mistake upon the subject, because there was an echpse; 
the sun was in Libra and the moon in Aries. ^ What I had 
learned by the mouth of these people I already knew in detail 
from books. Ptolemy thought that he had satisfactorily cor- 
rected ^ Marinus, and yet this latter appears to have come very 
near to the truth. Ptolemy placed Catigara * at a distance of 
twelve lines to the west of his meridian, which he fixes at 
two degrees and a third beyond Cape St. Vincent, in Portugal. 
Marinus comprised the earth and its limits in fifteen hnes.^ 

* The Spanish reads, "Lo que yo se es que el ano de noventa y cuatro en 
veinte y cuatros grados al Poniente en termino de nueve horas." The trans- 
lation in the text and that in Thacher (II. 687) of the ItaHan makes nonsense. 
The translation should be "what I know is that in the year '94 (1494) I 
sailed westward on the 24th parallel (lit. on 24 degrees) a total of nine hours 
(lit. to a limit of nine hours)." That is, he reckoned that he had gone 
•j^ round the world on the 24th parallel, and he knew it because there was an 
eclipse by which he found out the difference in time between Europe and 
where he was. The "termino" of nine hours refers to the western limit of 
his exploration of the southern coast of Cuba when he concluded it was a 
projection of the mainland of Asia. After reaching the conclusion that this 
is the correct interpretation of this passage, I discovered that it had been 
given by Humboldt in his Kritische Untersuchungen uber die historische 
Entwickelung der geographischen Kenntnisse von der Neuen Welt, I. 553, and 
by Peschel in his Zeitalter der Entdeckungen, p. 97, note 2. It may be objected 
to this explanation that in reality Columbus had only gone about 75 degrees 
west of Cape St. Vincent in Portugal. The accurate calculation of longitude 
at that time, however, was impossible, and as will be seen in the following 
note Columbus's calculation was biassed by powerful preconceptions. 

^ In his Libi'o de Profecias Columbus recorded the data of this eclipse which 
took place February 29, 1494, from which he drew the conclusion, "The 
difference between the middle of the island Jamaica in the Indies and the 
island of Cadiz in Spain is seven hours and fifteen minutes." Navarrete, 
Viages, II. 272. 

^ Reading remendiado or remendado instead of remedado. 

* Catigara was in China on the east side of the Gulf of Tonquin. 

^ Marinus of Tyre divided the earth into 24 meridians, 15 degrees or 
one hour apart. His first meridian passed the Fortunate Isles, which he sup- 
posed to be 2^ degrees west of Cape St. Vincent, and his fifteenth through 



1502] HIS LETTER OK THE FOUETH VOYAGE 397 

Marinus on Ethiopia gives a description covering more than 
twenty-four degrees beyond the equinoctial Hne, and now that 
the Portuguese have sailed there they find it correct/ Ptolemy 
says also that the most southern land is the first boundary, 
and that it does not go lower down than fifteen degrees and a 
third.^ The world is but small; out of seven divisions of it 

Catigara, southeastern China. The inhabited world embraced fifteen of 
these lines, 225 degrees, and the unknown portion east of India and west 
of Spain, nine lines, or hours, or 135 degrees. Cf. Vignaud, Toscanelli and 
Columbus, p. 74; Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, II. 519 et seqq. 
Columbus, therefore, according to his calculations, had in 1494 completely 
covered this unknown section and reached India (or China), and so had demon- 
strated the correctness of Marinus's views. In reality his strong preconcep- 
tions as to where he was distorted his calculations of the longitude. Ptolemy 
corrected Marinus's estimate of 225 degrees from Cape St. Vincent to Sera 
in China, and, as noted in Columbus's letter, placed Catigara in China (on the 
east side of the Gulf of Tonquin) at twelve lines or 180 degrees west of his 
meridian (2^ degrees west of Cape St. Vincent) . If Ptolemy was right, Colum- 
bus had not reached India (or more exactly China) or come, on his own calcu- 
lation, within 45 degrees or 2700 geographical miles of it measured on the 
equator. The outline reproduction of the map of Bartholomew Columbus 
made after his return from this voyage given in Channing's Student's History 
of the United States, p. 27 (photographic reproduction in Bourne, Spain in 
America, p. 96) illustrates the Admiral's ideas and conclusions. This region 
{i.e., Costa Rica and Panama) is a southern extension of Cochin-China and 
Cambodia and is connected with Hondo Novo, i.e., South America. 

^ The translation here adopts the emended text of Lollis, substituting 
"ali[e]nde" for "al Indo" in the sentence "Marino en Ethiopia escribe al 
Indo la linea equinoQial." Raccolta Colombiana, parte I., tomo II., P- 184. 
The translation of the unamended text as printed by Major was "the same 
author describes the Indus in Ethiopia as being more than four and twenty 
degrees from the equinoctial line." Apparently the 24 should be 44. With 
these changes the statements in the text agree with Columbus's marginalia 
to the Imago Mundi, where he notes that the Cape of Good Hope is Agesinba 
and that Bartholomew Diaz found it to be 45 degrees south of the equator. 
"This," he goes on, "agrees with the dictum of Marinus, whom Ptolemy 
corrects, in regard to the expedition to the Garamantes, who said it traversed 
27,500 stadia beyond the equinoctial." Raccolta Colombiana, parte II., 
tomo II., p. 377. On Marinus's exaggerated estimate of the distance covered 
by the Romans in tropical Africa, see Bunbury, History of Ancient Geog- 
raphy, II. 524. 

^ This is unintelligible. The Spanish is, "Tolomeo diz que la tierra mas 
austral es el plazo primero." The meaning of plazo is not " boundary " but 
"term" (allotted time). The reading should be: "la tierra mas austral 
es el praso promontorio," and the translation should be, "Ptolemy says that 
the most southern land is the promontory of Prasum," etc. Prasum promon- 



398 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1502 

the dry part occupies six, and the seventh is entirely covered 
by water/ Experience has shown it, and I have written it 
with quotations from the Holy Scripture, in other letters, 
where I have treated of the situation of the terrestrial para- 
dise, as approved by the Holy Church ; ^ and I say that the 
world is not so large as vulgar opinion makes it, and that one 
degree of the equinoctial line measures fifty-six miles and two- 
thirds ; and this may be proved to a nicety.^ 

But I leave this subject, which it is not my intention now 
to treat upon, but simply to give a narrative of my laborious 
and painful voyage, although of all my voyages it is the most 
honorable and advantageous. I have said that on the eve 
of St. Simon and St. Jude I ran before the wind wherever it 
took me, without power to resist it ; at length I found shelter 
for ten days from the roughness of the sea and the tempest 
overhead, and resolved not to attempt to go back to the 
mines, which I regarded as already in our possession.* When 
I started in pursuance of my voyage it was under a heavy 
rain, and reaching the harbor of Bastimentos I put in, though 

torium was Ptolemy's southern limit of the world. He placed it at about 
16 degrees south latitude. See Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, 
II. 572, and Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, art. " Prasum 
Promontorium " ; also Ptolemy's Geography, bk. iv., ch. ix., the descrip- 
tive matter relating to Map 4 on Africa. 

' //. Esdras, vi. 42, see p. 358, note 1. 

^ See the Letter of Columbus on his Third Voyage. Major, Select Letters 
of Columbus, p. 14L 

^ Ptolemy reckoned the length of the degree on the equator at 62|^ 
miles. The shorter measurement of 56f was the estimate adopted by the 
Arab astronomer Alfragan in the ninth century and known to Columbus 
through Cardinal d'Ailly's Imago Mundi, the source of much if not most of 
his information on the geographical knowledge and opinions of former times. 
Cardinal d'Ailly's source of information about Alfragan was Roger 
Bacon's Opus Majus. Columbus was deeply impressed with Alfragan's 
estimate of the length of the degree and annotated the passages in the 
Imago Mundi. Cf. Raccolta Colombiana, Parte I., tomo II., pp. 378, 407, 
and frequently. See this whole question in Vignaud, Toscanelli and Colum- 
bus, p. 79 et seqq. 

* In Puerto Bello. See p. 394, note 2. Porto Bello, to use the Angli- 
cized form, became the great shipping port on the north side of the 
isthmus for the trade with Peru. Cf. Bourne, Spain in America, p. 292. 



1502] HIS LETTER ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 399 

much against my will/ The storm and a rapid current kept 
me in for fourteen days, when I again set sail, but not with 
favorable weather. After I had made fifteen leagues with great 
exertions, the wind and the current drove me back ^ again 
with great fury, but in again making for the port which I had 
quitted, I found on the way another port, which I named - 
Retrete, where I put in for shelter with as much risk as regret, 
the ships being in sad condition, and my crews and myself 
exceedingly fatigued.^ I remained there fifteen days, kept in 
by stress of weather, and when I fancied my troubles were at 
an end, I found them only begun. It was then that I changed 
my resolution with respect to proceeding to the mines, and 
proposed doing something in the interim, until the weather 
should prove more favorable for my voyage.^ I had already 
made four leagues when the storm recommenced, and wearied 
me to such a degree that I absolutely knew not what to do; 
my wound reopened, and for nine days my life was despaired 
of ; never was the sea seen so high, so terrific, and so covered 
with foam ; not only did the wind oppose our proceeding on- 
ward, but it also rendered it highly dangerous to run in for 
any headland, and kept me in that sea which seemed to me 
as a sea of blood, seething like a cauldron on a mighty fire. 
Never did the sky look more fearful ; during one day and one 
night it burned Hke a furnace, and every instant I looked to 
see if my masts and my sails were not destroyed; these 

^ Columbus left Porto Bello November 9 and went eight leagues, but the 
next day he turned back four and took refuge at what is now Nombre de 
Dios. From the abundance of maize fields he named it Port of Provisions 
(Puerto de Bastimentos). Historie, p. 306. 

^ Me reposd atrds il viento, etc. For repos6 the text apparently should 
be either repuso, "put back," or rempujd, "drove back," and the transla- 
tion is based on this supposition. 

^ They remained at Bastimentos till November 23, when they went on to 
Guiga, but did not tarry but pushed on to a little harbor (November 26), 
which the Admiral called Retrete (Closet) because it was so small that it 
could hold only five or six vessels and the entrance was only fifteen or twenty 
paces wide. Historie, p. 306. 

* That is, Columbus turns back to explore the mines on account of the 
violence of the east and northeast winds. This was December 5. Historie, 
p. 309. 



400 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1502 

flashes came with such alarming fury that we all thought the 
ships must have been consumed. All this time the waters 
from heaven never ceased, not to say that it rained, for it was 
Uke a repetition of the deluge. The men were at this time so 
crushed in spirit that they longed for death as a deliverance 
from so many martyrdoms. Twice already had the ships 
suffered loss in boats, anchors, and rigging, and were now lying 
bare without sails. 

When it pleased our Lord, I returned to Puerto Gordo, ^ 
where I recruited my condition as well as I could. I then 
once more turned towards Veragua ; for my voyage, although 
I was [ready] for it, the wind and current were still contrary.^ 
I arrived at nearly the same spot as before, and there again 
the wind and currents still opposed my progress ; and once 
again I was compelled to put into port, not daring to await the 
opposition of Saturn^ with Mars so tossed on an exposed 
coast; for it almost always brings on a tempest or severe 
weather. This was on Christmas-day, about the hour of 
mass. 

Thus, after all these fatigues, I had once more to return to 
the spot from whence I started ; and when the new year had 
set in, I returned again to my task : but although I had fine 
weather for my voyage, the ships were no longer in a sailing 
condition, and my people were either dying or very sick. On 
the day of the Epiphany,^ I reached Veragua in a state of ex- 

* Not mentioned in the Historie by name. It was the place where they 
stayed from December 26 to January 3 to repair the ship Gallega as appears in 
the Probanzas del Almirante. Navarrete, Viages, III. 600. It was between 
Rio de los Lagartos and Puerto Bello. LolUs, Raccolta Colombiana, Parte I., 
tomo II., p. 187. 

^ Adopting de LoUis's text and punctuation. 

^ La oposicion de Saturno con Marte tan desvaratado en costa brava, adopt- 
ing de LoUis's text following the suggestion of the contemporary Italian 
translation. According to the doctrines of astrology the influence of Saturn 
was malign. " When Saturn is in the first degree of Aries, and any other 
Planet in the first degree of Libra, they being now an hundred and eighty 
degrees each from other, are said to be in Opposition: A bad Aspect." 
William Lilly, Christian Astrology (London, 1647), p. 27. 

^ Epiphany, January 6. It will be remembered that Columbus had 
passed Veragua the previous October when working eastward. See p. 394, 



1603] HIS LETTER ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 401 

haustion ; there, by our Lord's goodness, I found a river and a 
safe harbor, although at the entrance there were only ten 
spans of water. I succeeded in making an entry, but with 
great difficulty ; and on the following day the storm recom- 
menced, and had I been still on the outside at that time, I 
should have been unable to enter on account of the reef. It 
rained without ceasing until the fourteenth of February, so 
that I could find no opportunity of penetrating into the in- 
terior, nor of recruiting my condition in any respect what- 
ever ; and on the twenty-fourth of January, when I considered 
myself in perfect safety, the river suddenly rose with great 
violence to a considerable height, breaking my cables and the 
breastfasts,^ and nearly carrying away my ships altogether, 
which certainly appeared to me to be in greater danger than 
ever. Our Lord, however, brought a remedy as He has al- 
ways done. I do not know if any one else ever suffered 
greater trials. 

On the sixth of February, while it was still raining, I sent 
seventy men on shore to go into the interior, and at five 
leagues' distance they found several mines. The Indians who 
went with them conducted them to a very lofty mountain, 
and thence showing them the country all around, as far as the 
eye could reach, told them there was gold in every part, and 
that, towards the west, the mines extended twenty days' jour- 
ney ; they also recounted the names of the towns and villages 
where there was more or less of it. I afterwards learned that 

note 2. He now found he could enter the river of Veragua, but found 
another near by called by the Indians Yebra, but which Columbus named 
Belem in memory of the coming of the three kings (the wise men of the East) 
to Bethlehem. (Las Casas, III. 128 ; Porras in Thacher, 11. 645.) The name 
is still preserved attached to the river. 

^ Proeses. In nautical Spanish prois or proiza is a breastfast or headfast, 
that is a large cable for fastening a ship to a wharf or another ship. In 
Portuguese proiz is a stone or tree on shore to which the hawsers are fastened. 
Major interpreted it in this sense, translating the words las amarras y proeses, 
"the cables and the supports to which they were fastened." The interpre- 
tation given first seems to me the correct one, especially as Ferdinand says 
that the flood came so suddenly that they could not get the cables on land. 
Historic, p. 315. 
2d 



402 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1503 

the Quibian/ who had lent these Indians, had ordered them to 
show the distant mines, and which belonged to an enemy of 
his ; but that in his own territory one man might, if he would, 
collect in ten days as much as a child could carry.^ I bring 
with me some Indians, his servants, who are witnesses of this 
fact. The boats went up to the spot where the dwellings of 
these people are situated; and, after four hours, my brother 
returned with the guides, all of them bringing back gold which 
they had collected at that place. The gold must be abundant, 
and of good quality, for none of these men had ever seen 
mines before; very many of them had never seen pure gold, 
and most of them were seamen and lads. Having building 
materials in abundance, I established a settlement, and made 
many presents to the Quibian, which is the name they gave 
to the lord of the country. I plainly saw that harmony 
would not last long, for the natives are of a very rough disposi- 
tion, and the Spaniards very encroaching; and, moreover, I 
had taken possession of land belonging to the Quibian. When 
he saw what we did, and found the traffic increasing, he re- 
solved upon burning the houses, and putting us all to death ; 
but his project did not succeed, for we took him prisoner, 
together with his wives, his children, and his servants. His 
captivity, it is true, lasted but a short time, for he eluded the 
custody of a trustworthy man, into whose charge he had been 
given, with a guard of men ; and his sons escaped from a ship, 
in which they had been placed under the special charge of the 
master. 

^ Quibian is a title, as indicated a few lines further on, and not a proper 
name as Major, Irving, Markham, and others following Las Casas have taken 
it to be. The Spanish is uniformly "El Quibian." Peter Martyr says: 
"They call a kinglet (regulus) Cacicus, as we have said elsewhere, in other 
places Quebi, in some places also Tiba. A chief, in some places Sacchus, in 
others Jura." De Rebus Oceanicis, p. 241. 

* "Una mozada de oro." Mozada is not given in any of the Spanish 
dictionaries I have consulted. The Academy dictionary gives mojada as a 
square measure, deriving it from the low Latin modiata from modius. Perhaps 
one should read mojada instead of mozada and give it a meaning similar to 
that of modius or about a peck. Major's translation follows the explana- 
tion of De Verneuil, who says : " Mozada signifie la mesure que peut porter 
un jeune gar^on." 



1503] HIS LETTER ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 403 

In the month of January the mouth of the river was en- 
tirely closed up/ and in April the vessels were so eaten by the 
shipworm/ that they could scarcely be kept above water. At 
this time the river forced a channel for itself, by which I man- 
aged, with great difficulty, to extricate three of them after I 
had unloaded them. The boats were then sent back into the 
river for water and salt, but the sea became so high and fu- 
rious, that it afforded them no chance of exit; upon which 
the Indians collected themselves together in great numbers, 
and made an attack upon the boats, and at length massacred 
the men.^ My brother, and all the rest of our people, were in 
a ship which remained inside ; I was alone, outside, upon that 
dangerous coast, suffering from a severe fever and worn with 
fatigue. All hope of escape was gone. I toiled up to the 
highest part of the ship, and, with a voice of fear crying, and 
very urgently, I called upon your Highnesses' war-captains 
in every direction for help, but there was no reply. 
At length, groaning with exhaustion, I fell asleep, and 
heard a compassionate voice address me thus : "0 fool, 
and slow to beheve and to serve thy God, the God of all! 
what did He do more for Moses, or for David his servant, 
than He has done for thee? From thine infancy He has 
kept thee under His constant and watchful care. When He 
saw thee arrived at an age which suited His designs respecting 
thee, He brought wonderful renown to thy name throughout 

* The mouth of the river was closed by sand thrown up by the violent 
storms outside. Historie, p. 321. 

^ The teredo. 

^ During the weeks that he was shut in the River Belem Columbus had 
his brother explore the country. The prospects for a successful colony led 
him to build a small settlement and to plan to return to Spain for re-enforce- 
ments and supplies. The story is told in detail in the Historie and by Irving, 
Columbus, II. 425-450, and more briefly by Markham, Columbus, pp. 259- 
267. This was the first settlement projected on the American Continent. 
The hostility of the Indians culminating in this attack rendered the execution 
of the project impracticable. In the manuscript copy of Las Casas's His- 
toria de las Indias Las Casas noted on the margin of the passage containing 
the account of this incident, "This was the first settlement that the Span- 
iards made on the mainland, although in a short time it came to naught." 
See Thacher, Columbus, II. 608. 



404 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1503 

all the land. He gave thee for thine own the Indies, which 
form so rich a portion of the world, and thou hast divided 
them as it pleased thee, for He gave thee power to do so. He 
gave thee also the keys of those barriers of the ocean sea which 
were closed with such mighty chains ; ^ and thou wast obeyed 
through many lands, and gained an honorable fame throughout 
Christendom. What did he more for the people of Israel, when 
he brought them out of Egypt ?^ or for David, whom from a 
shepherd He made to be king in Judea ? Turn to Him, and 
acknowledge thine error — His mercy is infinite. Thine old 
age shall not prevent thee from accomplishing any great under- 
taking. He holds imder His sway many very great pos- 
sessions. Abraham had exceeded a hundred years of age 
when he begat Isaac ; nor was Sarah young. Thou criest out 
for uncertain help: answer, who has afflicted thee so much 
and so often, God or the world ? The privileges promised by 
God, He never fails in bestowing; nor does He ever declare, 
after a service has been rendered Him, that such was not agree- 
able with His intention, or that He had regarded the matter 
in another light ; nor does he inflict suffering, in order to give 
effect to the manifestation of His power. His word goes ac- 
cording to the letter; and He performs all his promises with 
interest. This is [his] custom. Thus I have told thee what 
thy Creator has done for thee, and what He does for all men. 
Just now He gave me a specimen of the reward of so many 
toils and dangers incurred by thee in the service of others." ^ 
I heard all this, as it were, in a trance ; but I had no answer 
to give in definite words, and could but weep for my errors. 

* De Lollis points out that these striking words are a paraphrase of the 
famous Unes in Seneca's Medea, Chorus, Act II.: — 

Venient annis saecula seris 

Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum 

Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus, 

Tethysque novos detegat orbes 

Nee sit terris ultima Thule. 
Columbus copied these verses into his Lihro de las Profecias and translated 
them. Navarrete, Viages, II. 272. 

^ Accepting de Lollis's emended text. 



1503] HIS LETTER ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 405 

He who spoke to me, whoever it was, concluded by saying, — 
'Tear not, but trust; all these tribulations are recorded on 
marble, and not without cause." I arose as soon as I could; 
and at the end of nine days there came fine weather, but not 
sufficiently so to allow of drawing the vessels out of the river. 
I collected the men who were on land, and, in fact, all of them 
that I could, because there were not enough to admit of one 
party remaining on shore while another stayed on board to 
work the vessels. I myself should have remained with my men 
to defend the settlement, had your Highnesses known of it; 
but the fear that ships might never reach the spot where we 
were, as well as the thought, that when provision is to be 
made for bringing help, everything will be provided,^ made 
me decide upon leaving. I departed, in the name of the 
Holy Trinity, on Easter night,^ with the ships rotten, worm- 
eaten and full of holes. One of them I left at Belen, with 
a supply of necessaries; I did the same at Belpuerto. I then 
had only two left, and they in the same state as the others. 
I was without boats or provisions, and in this condition I 
had to cross seven thousand miles of sea ; or, as an alterna- 
tive, to die on the passage with my son, my brother, and so 
many of my people. Let those who are accustomed to find- 
ing fault and censuring ask, while they sit in security at 
home, ''Why did you not do so and so under such circum- 
stances?" I wish they now had this voyage to make. 
I verily beheve that another journey of another kind awaits 
them, or our faith is nothing. 

On the thirteenth of May I reached the province of Mago 
[Mango], ^ which borders on Cathay, and thence I started 

* " Quando se aia de proveer de socorro, se proveera de todo." 

' April 16, 1503. 

^ Cuba. According to Ferdinand Columbus the course was as follows : 
The Admiral followed the coast of the isthmus eastward beyond El Retrete 
to a place he named Marmoro (near Pun to de Mosquitos) somewhat west of 
the entrance to the Gulf of Darien ; then May 1 in response to the urgency of 
the pilots he turned north. May 10 they sighted two little islands, Caymanos 
Chicos, and the 12th they reached the Queen's Garden just south of Cuba 
(see p. 391, note 1). The next day they landed in Cuba and secured 
supplies. It is significant of the tenacity of Columbus's conviction that 



406 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1503 

for the island of Espanola. I sailed two days with a good 
wind, after which it became contrary. The route that I fol- 
lowed called forth all my care to avoid the numerous islands, 
that I might not be stranded on the shoals that lie in their 
neighborhood. The sea was very tempestuous, and I was 
driven backward under bare poles. I anchored at an island, 
where I lost, at one stroke, three anchors; and, at midnight, 
when the weather was such that the world appeared to be 
coming to an end, the cables of the other ship broke, and it 
came down upon my vessel with such force that it was a 
wonder we were not dashed to pieces ; the single anchor that 
remained to me was, next to the Lord, our only preservation. 
After six days, when the weather became calm, I resumed my 
journey, having already lost all my tackle; my ships were 
pierced by borers more than a honey-comb and the crew en- 
tirely paralyzed with fear and in despair. I reached the 
island a little beyond the point at which I first arrived at it, 
and there I turned in to recover myself after the storm ;^ but 
I afterwards put into a much safer port in the same island. 
After eight days I put to sea again, and reached Jamaica by 
the end of June ; ^ but always beating against contrary winds, 
and with the ships in the worst possible condition. With 
three pumps, and the use of pots and kettles, we could scarcely 
clear the water that came into the ship, there being no remedy 
but this for the mischief done by the ship-worm. I steered in 

Cuba was a part of the mainland of Asia that he here calls it Mago (i.e., 
Mango). June 12, 1494, when he had explored the southern coast of Cuba, 
he reached this conviction and compelled his officers and crew to take oath 
that "it (i.e., Cuba) is mainland and in particular the province of Mango." 
Navarre te, Viages, II. 144. (The affidavits are translated in Thacher, Columbus, 
II. 327.) Mangi (southern China) is described by Marco Polo at great length. 
In the second Toscanelli letter Quinsay is said to be " in the province of 
Mangi, i.e., near the province of Cathay." It is noted several times in 
Columbus's marginalia to Marco Polo. 

^ Alli me tome a reposar atrds la fortuna. De Lollis, following the Italian 
translation, reads: Alli me tornd a reposar atrds la fortuna, etc. " There the 
storm returned to drive me back ; I stopped in the same island in a safer 
port." As this gives an unknown meaning to reposar, he suggests that Colum- 
bus may have written repujar, " to drive." 

^ June 23. Historie, p. 334. 



1503] HIS LETTER ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 407 

such a manner as to come as near as possible to Espanola, 
from which we were twenty-eight leagues distant, but I after- 
wards wished I had not done so, for the other ship which was 
half under water was obliged to run in for a port. I deter- 
mined on keeping the sea in spite of the weather, and my 
vessel was on the very point of sinking when our Lord miracu- 
lously brought us upon land. Who will believe what I now 
write ? I assert that in this letter I have not related one hun- 
dredth part of the wonderful events that occurred in this 
voyage; those who were with the Admiral can bear witness 
to it. If your Highnesses would be graciously pleased to send 
to my help a ship of above sixty-four tons, with two hundred 
quintals of biscuits and other provisions, there would then be 
sufficient to carry me and my crew from Espafiola to Spain. 
I have already said that there are not twenty-eight leagues 
between Jamaica and Espafiola ; and I should not have gone 
there, even if the ships had been in a fit condition for so doing, 
because your Highnesses ordered me not to land there. God 
knows if this command has proved of any service. I send this 
letter by means of and by the hands of Indians; it will be a 
miracle if it reaches its destination. 

This is the account I have to give of my voyage. The men 
who accompanied me were a hundred and fifty in number, 
among whom were many calculated for pilots and good sailors, 
but none of them can explain whither I went nor whence I 
came ; ^ the reason is very simple : I started from a point 
above the port of Brazil ^ in Espafiola. The storm prevented 
me from following my intended route, for I was obhged to 
go wherever the wind drove me ; at the same time I fell very 
sick, and there was no one who had navigated in these parts 

* On the contrary the narrative of Diego de Porras, which he prepared after 
his return to Spain in November, 1504, is a much clearer account of the 
voyage in most respects than this letter of Columbus's. For it, see Thacher, 
Columbus, II. 640-646. Porras relates that during this voyage the Admiral 
took all the charts away that the seamen had had. Thacher, Columbus, 
II. 646. 

^ "El puerto de Jaquimo [Jacmel], which he called the port of Brasil." 
Las Casas, Historia, III. 108. 



408 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1503 

before. However, after some days, the wind and sea became 
tranquil, and the storm was succeeded by a calm, but accom- 
panied with rapid currents. I put into harbor at an island 
called Isla de las Pozas, and then steered for mainland ; ^ 
but it is impossible to give a correct account of all our move- 
ments, because I was carried away by the current so many days 
without seeing land. I ascertained, however, by the compass 
and by observation, that I moved parallel with the coast of 
the mainland. No one could tell under what part of the 
heavens we were, and when I set out from there to come to the 
island of Espaiiola, the pilots thought we had come to the 
island of St. John, whereas it was the land of Mango, four hun- 
dred leagues to the westward of where they said.^ Let them 
answer and say if they know where Veragua is situated. I 
assert that they can give no other account than that they 
went to lands, where there was an abundance of gold, and this 
they can certify surely enough ; but they do not know the way 
to return thither for such a purpose; they would be obhged 
to go on a voyage of discovery as much as if they had never 
been there before. 

There is a mode of reckoning derived from astronomy which 
is sure and safe, and a sufficient guide to any one who under- 
stands it. This resembles a prophetic vision.^ The Indies 
ships ^ do not sail except with the wind abaft, but this is not 
because they are badly built or clumsy, but because the strong 
currents in those parts, together with the wind, render it im- 
possible to sail with the bowline,^ for in one day they would 
lose as much way as they might have made in seven; for the 
same reason I could make no use of caravels, even though they 

' Cuba. 

^ The. pilots thought that they were east of Espanola when Columbus 
turned north, and consequently thought that Cuba (Mango) was Porto 
Rico (San Juan). Cf. Historie, p. 333. 

' I.e., in that it is clear to one who understands it, and blind to one 
who does not. 

* Las naos de las Indias, i.e., the large ships for the Indies, i.e., Espanola. 

^ Bow-lines are ropes employed to keep the windward edges of the prin- 
cipal sails steady, and are only used when the wind is so unfavorable that 
the sails must be all braced sideways, or close hauled to the wind. (Major.) 



1503] HIS LETTER ON" THE FOURTH VOYAGE 409 

were Portuguese lateens.^ This is the cause that they do 
not sail unless with a regular breeze, and they will sometimes 
stay in harbor waiting for this seven or eight months at a 
time ; nor is tliis anything wonderful, for the same very often 
occurs in Spain. 

The nation of which Pope Pius 11. describes the situa- 
tion and characteristics has now been found, ^ excepting 
the horses with the saddles and poitrels and bridles of gold; 
but this is not to be wondered at, for the lands on the sea- 
coast are only inhabited by fishermen, and moreover I made 
no stay there, because I was in haste to proceed on my voyage. 
In Cariay ^ and the neighboring country there are great en- 
chanters of a very fearful character. They would have given 
the world to prevent my remaining there an hour. When I 
arrived they sent me immediately two girls very showily 
dressed; the eldest could not be more than eleven years of 
age and the other seven, and both exhibited so much im- 
modesty, that more could not be expected from public women ; 
they carried concealed about them a magic powder ; when they 
came I gave them some articles to dress themselves out with, 
and directly sent them back to the shore.'* I saw here, built 

' I.e., rigged with lateen sails in the Portuguese fashion. 

^ Columbus, in his marginal notes to his copy of the Historia Rerum 
ubique Gestarum of Pope Pius II. (Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini ; Venice, 1477), 
summarized the description of the Massagetae in ch. xii. in part as follows : 
they "use golden girths and golden bridles and silver breast-pieces and have 
no iron but plenty of copper and gold." Raccolta Colombiana, parte I., 
tomo II., p. 300. This description of the Massagetae goes back to Herodotus. 
While some habits ascribed to the Massagetae were like what Columbus 
observed in Veragua, their home was nowhere near eastern China. 

3 See p. 393, note 3. 

^ The account in the Historic is radically at variance with this. The girls 
were brought on board and "showed themselves very brave since although 
the Christians in looks, acts, and race were very strange, they gave no 
signs of distress or sadness, but maintained a cheerful and modest (honesto) 
bearing, wherefore they were very well treated by the Admiral who gave them 
clothes and something to eat and then sent them back." Historic, p. 299. 
Ferdinand gives the ages as eight and fourteen and says nothing of witchcraft 
except that the Indians were frightened and thought they were being be- 
witched when Bartholomew the next day ordered the ships' clerks to write 
down the replies he got to his questions ; ibid. 



410 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1503 

on a mountain, a sepulchre as large as a house, and elaborately 
sculptured ; the body lay uncovered and embalmed in it. They 
also spoke to me of other very excellent works of art/ There 
are many species of animals both small and large, and very 
different from those of our country. I had a present of two 
pigs, and an Irish dog was afraid to face them. A cross- 
bowman had wounded an animal like a monkey,^ except that 
it was larger, and had a face like a man's; the arrow had 
pierced it from the neck to the tail, and since it was fierce 
he was obliged to cut off an arm and a leg ; the pig bristled 
up on seeing it and tried to get away. I, when I saw this, 
ordered the begare ^ as it is called to be thrown to the pig 
where he was, and though the animal was nearly dead, and 
the arrow had passed quite through his body, yet he threw 
his tail round the snout of the boar, and then holding him 
firmly, seized him by the nape of the neck with his remaining 
hand, as if he were engaged with an enemy. This action was 
so novel and so extraordinary, that I have thought it worth 
while to describe it here. There is a great variety of animals 
here, but they all die of barra^ I saw some very large 
fowls (the feathers of which resemble wool),^ lions, stags, 
fallow-deer and birds. 

When we were so harassed with our troubles at sea, some 
of our men imagined that we were under the influence of 

' A specimen of the Maya sculptures, of which such imposing remains 
are found in Yucatan. The translation follows Lollis's emendation, which 
substitutes mirrado for mirando. 

^ Gato paulo. On this name, see p. 341, note 3. Ferdinand, in the 
Historic, relates this incident in more detail, from which it is clear that the 
pigs were peccaries which had been captured by the men. On the other hand, 
Ulloa, the Italian translator of the Historic, mistranslated gate paulo by 
"gatto," "cat." 

^ Begare. Columbus in recollecting this incident transferred to the mon- 
key the Indian name of the wild pigs. The begare is the " peccary, " a native 
of America. Oviedo, lib. xii., cap. xx, gives baquira as the name of wild pigs 
in Nicaragua, and baquira and begare are obviously identical. 

* For the word barra no explanation can be offered except what is 
derived from the context. As the Italian has diverse malattie, "divers 
diseases," de LoUis suggests that barra should be varias and that maladias 
was somehow dropped from the text. 

* Leones. The American lion or puma. 



1503] HIS LETTER ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 411 

sorcery, and even to this day entertain the same notion. 
Some of the people whom I discovered eat men, as was evi- 
denced by the brutahty of their countenances. They say that 
there are great mines of copper in the country, of which they 
make hatchets ^ and other elaborate articles both cast and 
soldered; they also make of it forges, with all the apparatus 
of the goldsmith, and crucibles. The inhabitants go clothed; 
and in that province I saw some large sheets of cotton very 
elaborately and cleverly worked, and others very delicately 
painted in colors.^ They tell me that more inland towards 
Cathay they have them interwoven with gold. For want of 
an interpreter we were able to learn but very little respecting 
these countries, or what they contain. Although the coun- 
try is very thickly peopled, yet each nation has a very different 
language; indeed so much so, that they can no more under- 
stand each other than we understand the Arabs. I think, 
however, that this applies to the barbarians on the sea-coast, 
and not to the people who live more inland. When I dis- 
covered the Indies, I said that they composed the richest lord- 
ship in the world ; I spoke of gold and pearls and precious 
stones, of spices and the traffic that might be carried on in 
them; and because all these things were not forthcoming at 
once I was abused. This punishment causes me to refrain 
from relating anything but what the natives tell me. One 
thing I can venture upon stating, because there are so many 
witnesses of it, viz., that in this land of Veragua I saw more 
signs of gold in the first two days than I saw in Espaiiola 
during fours years, and that there is not a more fertile or 
better cultivated country in all the world, nor one whose in- 
habitants are more timid ; added to which there is a good har- 
bor, a beautiful river, and the whole place is capable of being 
easily put into a state of defence. All this tends to the se- 
curity of the Christians and the permanency of their sover- 

* A misunderstanding. The Mayas made no metal tools. Brinton, 
The American Race, p. 156. 

' Possibly Columbus may have seen some Maya codices, of which such 
remarkable specimens have been preserved. 



412 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1603 

eignty, while it affords the hope of great increase and honor 
to the Christian religion; moreover the road hither will be 
as short as that to Espanola, because there is a certainty of 
a fair wind for the passage. Your Highnesses are as much 
lords of this country as of Xerez or Toledo; your ships if 
they should go there, go to your own house. From there they 
will take gold ; in other lands to have what there is in them, 
they will have to take it by force or retire empty-handed, 
and on the land they will have to trust their persons in the 
hands of a savage.^ 

Of the other [matter] that I refrain from saying, I have 
already said why I kept silent. I do not speak so, neither 
[do I say] that I make a threefold affirmation in all that I 
have ever said or written nor that I am at the source.^ The 
Genoese, Venetians and all other nations that possess pearls, 
precious stones, and other articles of value, take them to the 
ends of the world to exchange them for gold. Gold is most 
excellent; gold is treasure, and he who possesses it does all 
he wishes to in this world, and succeeds in helping souls 
into paradise. They say that when one of the lords of the 
country of Veragua dies, they bury all the gold he possessed 
with his body. There were brought to Solomon at one jour- 
ney ^ six hundred and sixty-six quintals of gold, besides what 
the merchants and sailors brought, and that which was paid 
in Arabia. Of this gold he made two hundred lances * and three 
hundred shields, and the flooring^ which was to be above them 

* Considering Columbus's experience at Veragua this account exhibits 
boundless optimism. Still it is not to be forgotten that through the conquest 
of Mexico to the north this prediction was rather strikingly fulfilled. 

^ It is not clear to what Columbus refers in this sentence. 
^ De un camino. The texts to which Columbus refers just below show 
that this should read de un ano, in one year. 

* In the Latin version of Josephus used by Columbus the Greek ^vpeo's, 
a target, was rendered lancea. See Raccolta Colombiana, parte I., tomo 
II., p. 367. 

^ Tablado. In the Italian translation tavolato, a "partition wall," 
"wainscoting," also "floor." Tablado also means "scaffold" and 
" stage" or "staging." We have here a curious series of mistakes. The 
Greek text of Josephus has cKTrw/xara, "cups." The old Latin translator, 
perhaps having a defective text, took cKTrw/xara apparently to be equivalent 



1503] HIS LETTER ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 413 

was also of gold, and ornamented with precious stones ; many 
other things he made likewise of gold, and a great number of 
vessels of great size, which he enriched with precious stones. 
This is related by Josephus in his Chronicle De Antiquita- 
tibus ; mention is also made of it in the Chronicles and in 
the Book of Kings/ Josephus thinks that this gold was found 
in the Aurea ; ^ if it were so, I contend that these mines of 
the Aurea are identical with those of Veragua, which, as I 
have said before, extends westward twenty days' journey, and 
they are at an equal distance from the Pole and the Line.^ 
Solomon bought all of it, — gold, precious stones, and silver, 
— but your Majesties need only send to seek them to have them 
at your pleasure. David, in his will, left three thousand quin- 
tals of Indian gold to Solomon, to assist in building the Temple ; 
and, according to Josephus, it came from these lands.* Jeru- 
salem and Mount Sion are to be rebuilt by the hands of Chris- 
tians, who it is to be God told by the mouth of His prophet in 
the fourteenth Psalm.^ The Abbot Joaquim said that he who 

to TTWfjLaTa, which has as its secondary meaning, "Uds," and translated it 
by the uncommon word coopercula, "hds" (c/. Georges, Lateinischdeutsches 
Handworterbuch, sub voce cooperculum) . The meaning of this word Columbus 
guessed at, not having the text before him to see the connection, and from 
its derivation from cooperio, " to cover," took it to be a " covering " in the 
sense of flooring, or perhaps ceiling, above where the shields were hung " in 
the house of the forest of Lebanon," and rendered it tablado. The whole 
passage from the old Latin version (published in 1470 and frequently 
later), Columbus copied into a fly-leaf of his copy of the Historia Rerum 
ubique Gestarum of Pope Pius IL See Raccolta Colombiana, parte L, tomo 
II., pp. 366-367. 

' Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, bk. viii., eh. vii., sect. 4; /. Kings, 
X. 14, 1.5; //. Chronicles, ix. 13, 14. 

^ The Chersonesus Aurea of Ptolemy, or the Malay Peninsula. 

^ That is, Veragua and the Golden Chersonese are in the same 
latitude. 

* Josephus wrote that the gold came from the "Land of Gold," "a terra 
que vocatur aurea," as the passage in the Latin version reads. The Greek 
is, oLTTo T^5 xp^'o^? KttXov/Acvi/s yrjs. Josephus gives no further identification 
of the location. 

^ I have not been able to verify this reference. There is nothing in the 
fourteenth Psalm relating to this matter, nor is the fourteenth Psalm men- 
tioned among the many citations from the Psalms in the Libro de las 
Projecias. 



414 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1503 

should do this was to come from Spain ; ^ Saint Jerome showed 
the holy woman the way to accomplish it ; ^ and the emperor 
of Cathay, a long time ago, sent for wise men to instruct him 
in the faith of Christ.^ Who will offer himself for this work ? * 
Should any one do so, I pledge myself, in the name of God, 
to convey him safely thither, provided the Lord permits me 
to return to Spain. 

The people who have sailed with me have passed through 
incredible toil and danger, and I beseech your Highnesses, 
since they are poor, to pay them promptly, and to be gracious 
to each of them according to their respective merits; for I 
can safely assert, that to my belief they are the bearers of the 
best news that ever was carried to Spain. With respect to 
the gold which belongs to the Quibian of VeragUa, and other 
chiefs in the neighboring country, although it appears by the 
accounts we have received of it to be very abundant, I do not 
think it would be well or desirable, on the part of your High- 
nesses, to take possession of it in the way of plunder ; by fair 
dealing, scandal and disrepute will be avoided, and all the gold 
will thus reach your Highnesses' treasury without the loss of 
a grain. 

' In his Libro de las Profecias Columbus wrote, "El abad Johachin, 
calabres, diso que habia de salir de Espana quien havia de redificar la Casa 
del Monte Sion." "The abbot Joachim, the Calabrian, said that he who 
was destined to rebuild the House of Mount Sion was to come from Spain." 
Lollis remarks that Columbus interpreted in his own way the "Oraculum 
Turcicum," which concludes the thirty prophecies of Joachim of Flora in 
regard to the popes. In the edition (Venice, 1589) which Lollis had seen, 
this prophecy was interpreted to mean Charles VIII. of France. RaccoUa 
Colomhiana, parte IL, tomo II., p. 83. 

^ The reference to St. Jerome I have not found in Columbus's marginaha. 

^ The father and uncle of Marco Polo had been given this mission by 
Cublay Kaan. See Marco Polo, bk. i., ch. vii. Opposite the passage in 
his copy of the Latin Marco Polo which he had, Columbus wrote, " magnus kam 
misitlegatos ad pontificem." RaccoUa Colomhiana, parte IL, tomo IL, p. 446. 

* The recovery of the Holy Sepulchre had been long a cherished object 
with Columbus. See the Journal of the First Voyage, December 26 ; the 
letter to Pope Alexander VI., February, 1502 (Navarrete, Viages, II. 280), 
and his Libro de Profecias, a collection of Scripture texts compiled under his 
supervision relating to the restoration of Zion, etc. RaccoUa Colomhiana, 
parte I., tomo IL, pp. 77-160. 



1503] HIS LETTER ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 415 

With one month of fair weather I shall complete my voy- 
age. As I was deficient in ships, I did not persist in delaying 
my course ; but in everything that concerns your Highnesses' 
service, I trust in Him who made me, and I hope also that 
my health will be re-established. I think your Highnesses 
will remember that I had intended to build some ships in a 
new manner, but the shortness of the time did not permit 
it. I had certainly foreseen how things would be. I think 
more of this opening for commerce, and of the lordship over 
such extensive mines, than of all that has been done in the 
Indies.^ This is not a child to be left to the care of a step- 
mother. 

I never think of Espaiiola, and Paria, and the other coun- 
tries, without shedding tears. I thought that what had oc- 
curred there would have been an example for others ; on the 
contrary, these settlements are now in a languid state, although 
not dead, and the malady is incurable, or at least very exten- 
sive. Let him who brought the evil come now and cure it, if 
he laiows the remedy, or how to apply it; but when a dis- 
turbance is on foot, every one is ready to take the lead. It 
used to be the custom to give thanks and promotion to him 
who placed his person in jeopardy; but there is no justice in 
allowing the man who opposed this undertaking, to enjoy the 
fruits of it with his children. Those who left the Indies, 
avoiding the toils consequent upon the enterprise, and speak- 
ing evil of it and me, have since returned with official appoint- 
ments, — such is the case now in Veragua : it is an evil exam- 
ple, and profitless both as regards the business in which we 
are embarked, and as respects the general maintenance of 
justice. The fear of this, with other sufficient considerations, 
which I clearly foresaw, caused me to beg your Highnesses, 
previously to my coming to discover these islands and main- 
land, to grant me permission to govern in your royal name. 
Your Highnesses granted my request; and it was a privilege 
and treaty granted under the royal seal and oath, by which I 

' An opinion abundantly justified through the conquest of Mexico and 
the estabUshment of the kingdom of New Spain. 



416 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS [1503 

was nominated viceroy, and admiral, and governor-general of 
all: and your Highnesses limited the extent of my govern- 
ment to a hundred leagues be3^ond the Azores and Cape Verde 
islands, by a line passing from one pole to the other, and gave 
me ample power over all that I might discover beyond this 
line; all which is more fully described in the official docu- 
ment.^ 

But the most important affair of all, and that which cries 
most loudly for redress, remains inexplicable to this moment. 
For seven years was I at your royal court, where every one to 
whom the enterprise was mentioned treated it as ridiculous; 
but now there is not a man, down to the very tailors, who does 
not beg to be allowed to become a discoverer. There is reason 
to believe, that they make the voyage only for plunder, and 
that they are permitted to do so, to the great disparagement 
of my honor, and the detriment of the undertaking itself.^ 
It is right to give God His own, — and to Caesar^ that which 
belongs to him.^ This is a just sentiment, and proceeds 
from just feehngs. The lands in this part of the world, which 
are now under your Highnesses' sway, are richer and more ex- 
tensive than those of any other Christian power, and yet, after 
that I had, by the Divine will, placed them under your liigh 
and royal sovereignty, and was on the point of bringing your 
majesties into the receipt of a very great and unexpected 
revenue ; and while I was waiting for ships, to convey me in 
safety, and with a heart full of joy, to your royal presence, 
victoriously to announce the news of the gold that I had dis- 
covered, I was arrested and thrown, with my two brothers, 

^ See the Capitulation, pp. 77, 78 above. The Hmit mentioned was fixed 
by the Papal Demarcation line; the limit agreed upon by Spain and 
Portugal was 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. 

^ A reference to such voyages as those of Vicente Yanez Pinzon, Hojeda, 
Diego de Lepe, and Rodrigo de Bastidas which occurred in 1499-1502. Cf. 
Bourne, Spain in America, pp. 67-71, and for details Irving, Columbus, III. 
15-62. 

^ Accepting de Lollis's emendation a Cesar instead of the MS. reading 
a^etar which Navarrete printed aceptar. The Italian has a Cesaro. 

* "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto- 
God, the things which are God's." Matthew, xxii. 21. 



1503] HIS LETTEE ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE 417 

loaded with irons, into a ship, stripped, and very ill-treated, 
without being allowed any appeal to justice/ 

Who could believe, that a poor foreigner would have risen 
against your Higlinesses, in such a place, without any motive 
or argument on his side; without even the assistance of any 
other prince upon which to rely ; but on the contrary, amongst 
your own vassals and natural subjects, and with my sons stay- 
ing at your royal court? I was twenty-eight years old when 
I came into your Higlmesses' service,^ and now I have not a 
hair upon me that is not gray; my body is infirm, and all 
that was left to me, as well as to my brothers, has been taken 
away and sold, even to the frock that I wore, to my great dis- 
honor. I cannot but believe that this was done without your 
royal permission. The restitution of my honor, the reparation 
of my losses, and the punishment of those who have inflicted 
them, will redound to the honor of your royal character; a 
similar punishment also is due to those who plundered me of 
my pearls, and who have brought a disparagement upon the 
privileges of my admiralty. Great and unexampled will be 
the glory and fame of your Highnesses, if you do this ; and the 
memory of your Highnesses, as just and grateful sovereigns, 
will survive as a bright example to Spain in future ages. The 
honest devotedness I have always shown to your Majesties' 
service, and the so unmerited outrage with which it has been 
repaid, will not allow my soul to keep silence, however much 
I may wish it : I implore your Higlmesses to forgive my com- 
plaints. I am indeed in as ruined a condition as I have re- 
lated ; hitherto I have wept over others ; — may Heaven now 

^ At Espanola in 1500 by Bobadilla. Cf. the letter to the nurse above, 
p. 380. 

^ This is one of the most important passages bearing upon the age of 
Columbus. As he came to Spain at the end of 1484 according to Ferdi- 
nand Columbus, Historie, ch. xii., Peschel fixed his birth in 1456, Zeitalter 
der Entdeckungen, p. 76. The majority of modern critics, however, have 
agreed upon the basis of notarial documents in Genoa that 1446 was the 
date of his birth and propose therefore to emend the text here by substituting 
"treinta y ocho" for "veinte y ocho." On the various dates set for his 
birth see Vignaud, The Real Birth-date of Christopher Columbus. Vignaud 
fixes upon 1451. 
2e 



418 VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 

have mercy upon me, and may the earth weep for me. With 
regard to temporal things, I have not even a blanca,* for an 
offering; and in spiritual things, I have ceased here in the 
Indies from observing the prescribed forms of rehgion. Soli- 
tary in my trouble, sick, and in daily expectation of death, 
surrounded by a milhon of hostile savages full of cruelty, and 
thus separated from the blessed sacraments of our holy Church, 
how will my soul be forgotten if it be separated from the body 
in this foreign land? Weep for me, whoever has charity, 
truth, and justice ! I did not come out on this voyage to 
gain to myself honor or wealth; this is a certain fact, for at 
that time all hope of such a thing was dead. I do not he 
when I say, that I went to your Highnesses with honest pur- 
pose of heart, and sincere zeal in your cause. I humbly 
beseech your Highnesses, that if it please God to rescue me 
from this place, you will graciously sanction my pilgrimage 
to Rome and other holy places. May the Holy Trinity pro- 
tect your Highnesses' lives, and add to the prosperity of your 
exalted position. 

Done in the Indies, in the island of Jamaica, on the seventh 
of July, in the year one thousand five hundred and three. 

* Blanca, a copper coin worth about one-third of a cent. 



ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF THE 
VOYAGES OF JOHN CABOT 



INTRODUCTION 

John Cabot, the Venetian sailor who took the first Enghsh 
ship across the Atlantic, was not a writer like Columbus, and 
consequently our knowledge of his projects and his achieve- 
ments is hmited to what is derived from the reports of other 
men who knew him or his son and from certain official docu- 
ments. In general our material may be classified into: (a) 
English official documents, (h) reports derived from John 
Cabot himself, and (c) reports or records derived more or less 
directly from Sebastian Cabot. The materials in a and h are 
harmonious ; those in classes h and c, on the other hand, are 
practically irreconcilable. The result of this conflict of testi- 
mony has been to discredit Sebastian Cabot and to lead many 
scholars to believe that he tried to ascribe to himself what his 
father did. Other critics reluctant to bring so serious a charge 
against a man who held honorable positions in Spain and later 
in England believe that the material in class c relates to the 
second voyage — that of 1498, and that by a mistake it was in 
the minds of the narrators confused with the voyage of 1497. 
For a presentation of all the original material the reader 
may be referred to H. Harrisse, John Cabot the Discoverer of 
North America, and Sebastian his Son (London, 1896), and to 
G. E. Weare, CaboVs Discovery of North America (London, 
1897). G. P. Winship, Cabot Bibliography (London, 1900), 
gives a complete guide to the Cabot literature. For a brief 
account of the voyages and of the Cabot question see E. G. 
Bourne, Spain in America (New York, 1904), pp. 54-63. The 
most important recent monograph is H. P. Biggar, The Voy- 

421 



422 VOYAGES OF JOHN CABOT 

ages of the Cahots and of the Corte-Reals, in Revue Hispanique, 
tome X. (Paris, 1903). 

The material presented here consists of the private letters 
of two Italians sojourning in London in 1497-1498, and the 
official despatch of the junior Spanish ambassador at the Eng- 
lish court. 

E. G. B. 



THE VOYAGES OF JOHN CABOT 

LETTER OF LORENZO PASQUALIGO TO HIS 
BROTHERS ALVISE AND FRANCESCO, MER- 
CHANTS IN VENICE' 

The Venetian, our countryman, who went with a ship from 
Bristol to find new islands, has returned, and says that 700 
leagues hence he discovered mainland, the territory of the 
Grand Cham {Gram Cam).^ He coasted for 300 leagues and 
landed ; he did not see any person, but he has brought hither 
to the King certain snares which had been set to catch game, 
and a needle for making nets ; he also found some cut trees, 
wherefore he supposed there were inhabitants. Being in doubt 
he returned to his ship. 

He was three months on the voyage, and this is certain, 
and on his return he saw two islands ^ but would not land, 

' This letter was received in Venice on September 23, 1497, and a copy 
of it was incorporated by Marino Sanuto in his diary. It was first brought 
to light by Rawdon Brown in his Ragguagli sulla Vita e sulle Opere di Marin 
Sanuto, etc. (Venezia, 1837). It was published in English in a generally 
accessible form in 1864 in the Caleyidar of State Papers, Venetian Series, 
I. 262, edited by Rawdon Brown. The translation here given is a revision 
of Brown's version. Another translation is printed in Markham, The Journal 
of Columbus (London, 1893). 

^ This reference to the Grand Cham probably indicates familiarity with 
Columbus's views of what he had discovered as expressed in his letters to 
Santangel and to Sanchez ; see above, p. 268. 

The landfall of John Cabot has been the subject of prolonged discussion. 
Labrador, Newfoundland, and Cape Breton are the principal places advocated. 
Of late years, owing to the vigorous and learned arguments of Dr. S. E. 
Dawson there has been an increasing disposition to accept Cape Breton on 
Cape Breton Island as the most probable location. See Winship, Cabot 
Bibliography, for the literature. 

^ The words "to starboard" have been inserted at this point in all English 
translations. Biggar has pointed out that the words cd dreto so translated 
are Venetian dialect for addietro, which is an alternate form for the more 

423 



424 VOYAGES OF JOHN CABOT [1497 

SO as not to lose time, as he was short of provisions. The 
King is much pleased with this. He says that the tides are 
slack and do not flow as they do here. 

The King has promised that in the spring our country- 
man shall have ten ships, armed to his order, and at his re- 
quest has conceded him alljthe^prisoners, except traitors, to 
go with him as he has requested. The TQiig has~afe(T~given 
him money wherewith to amuse himself till then,^ and he is 
now at Bristol with his wife, who is also Venetian, and with 
his sons ; his name is Zuam Talbot,^ and he is styled the great 
admiral. Vast honor is paid him; he dresses in silk, and 
these English run after him like mad people, so that he can 
ehhst as many of them as he pleases, and a number of our 
own rogues besides. 

The discoverer of these things planted on his new-found 
land a large cross, with one flag of England and another of 
St. Mark, by reason of his being a Venetian, so that our ban- 
ner has floated very far afield. 

London, 23 August 1497. 

FIRST LETTER OF RAIMONDO DE SONCINO, 
AGENT OF THE DUKE OF MILAN, TO THE DUKE ^ 

. . . Also some months ago his Majesty sent out a Vene- 
tian, who is a very good mariner, and has good skill in dis- 
covering new islands, and he has returned safe, and has found 
two very large and fertile new islands; having likewise dis- 
common indietro, back. The earlier translators thought al dreto equivalent 
to al dritto, on the right. Al tornar al dreto means simply "in going back." 

1 " August 10, 1497 : To hym that founds the New Isle, 10£. " British 
Museum, Add. MSS. No. 7099, 12 Henry VII., fol. 41. From Weare, 
Cabot's Discovery of North America, 124. 

^ So in Sanuto's text. This form indicates perhaps that Pasqualigo had 
only heard the name and not seen it written. 

^ This letter was found in the archives of the Sforza family in Milan. The 
manuscript is apparently no longer extant. There are two somewhat diver- 
gent texts. The one translated here is the one sent by Rawdon Brown to the 
Public Record Office in London. Both are printed in Weare, Cabot's Discovery, 
pp. 142-143. The translation given here is by Rawdon Brown as printed 
in the Calendar of State Papers, Venetian Series, I. 259-260. 



1497] LETTERS OF RAIMONDO DE SONCINO 425 

covered the Seven Cities/ 400 leagues from England, on the 
western passage. This next spring his Majesty means to 
send him with fifteen or twenty ships. 

SECOND LETTER OF RAIMONDO DE SONCINO TO 
THE DUKE OF MILAN =^ 

Most Illustrious and Excellent My Lord: — 

Perhaps among your Excellency's many occupations, it 
may not displease you to learn how his Majesty here has won 
a part of Asia without a stroke of the sword. There is in 
this kingdom a Venetian fellow, Master John Caboto by name, 
of fine mind, greatly skilled in navigation, who seeing that 
those most serene kings, first he of Portugal, and then the one 
of Spain, have occupied unknown islands, determined to make 
a like acquisition for his Majesty aforesaid.^ And having ob- 
tained royal grants that he should have the usufruct of all 
that he should discover, provided that the ownership of the 
same is reserved to the crown, with a small ship and eighteen 
persons he committed himself to fortune ; and having set out 
from Bristol, a western port of this kingdom, and passed the 
western limits of Ireland, and then standing to the north- 
ward he began to sail toward the Oriental regions, leaving 
(after a few days) the North Star on liis right hand; and, 

'■ The Seven Cities was a legendary island in the Atlantic. They are all 
placed and named on the legendary island of Antilia on the map of Grazioso 
Benincasa in 1482. See E. G. Bourne, Spain in America, pp. 6 and 7, and 
Kretschmer, Die Entdeckung Amerikas, Atlas, plate 4. Columbus reported 
in Portugal that he had discovered Antilia (seep. 225, note 1) ; hence the deduc- 
tion either of John Cabot or of Raimondo that the region explored by Cabot, 
being far to the west in the ocean, was the same as that visited by Columbus. 
Cf. also art. " Brazil, Island of," Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

^ This letter is preserved in the Archivio di Stato in Milan. It was first 
published in the Annuario Scientifico del 1865 (Milan, 1866). It was first 
printed in Enghsh in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, III. 
54-55 (Boston, 1884), in the chapter by Charles Deane, entitled "The Voy- 
ages of the Cabots." This translation was revised by Professor B. H. Nash 
of Harvard University and is given here with only one or two slight changes. 

^ In this passage Cabot's immediate impulse is attributed to the voyages 
of Columbus and their results. 



426 VOYAGES OF JOHN CABOT [1497 

having wandered about considerably, at last he struck main- 
land, where, having planted the royal banner and taken pos- 
session on behalf of this King, and taken certain tokens, he 
has returned thence. The said Master John, as being foreign- 
born and poor, would not be believed if his comrades, who are 
almost all Englishmen and from Bristol, did not testify that 
what he says is true. This Master John has the description 
of the world in a chart, and also in a solid globe which he has 
made, and he shows where he landed, and that going toward 
the east he passed considerably beyond the country of the 
Tanais.^ And they say that it is a very good and temperate 
country, and they think that Brazil-wood ^ and silk grow 
there; and they affirm that that sea is covered with fishes, 

^ No satisfactory explanation of this can be given. Bellemo, in the Rac- 
colta Colonibiana, pt. III., vol. I., p. 197, interprets this sentence to mean that 
Cabot showed on the globe the place he had reached on the voyage and then 
to that statement the remark is added, referring to earlier journeys, " and going 
toward the east he has passed considerably beyond the land of the Tanais." 
Tanais is the Latin name for the Don, and at the mouth of the Don was the im- 
portant Venetian trading station of La Tana. Cf. Biggar, Voyages of the 
Cabots and Code-Reals, pp. 33-34, note. Biggar dissents from this interpreta- 
tion. I would offer the conjecture that " the land of the Tanais "stands for the 
land of Tana. In Marco Polo the kingdom of Tana, on the western side of 
India, is described as powerful and having an extensive commerce. See 
Marco Polo, pt. iii., ch. xxx. Raimondo, if unfamiliar with Marco 
Polo, would understand La Tana by Tana and then naturally assume that 
"the country of Tana" was a slip for "country of the Tanais." Cabot on 
the other hand might have heard of Tana when in Mecca without getting 
any very definite idea of its location except that it was far to the East in 
India. The phrase "toward the East," like the one earlier in the letter 
"toward the Oriental regions," is used of the ultimate destination, not the 
direction, and of the destination as a known spot always thought of in 
Europe as "the East." 

^ El hrasilio for el legno brasilio. Brazil wood was an East Indian red 
wood imported into Europe. It is the Caesalpina sappan. Its bright color 
led to its being compared to glowing coals, brazia, brascia, etc., Eng. brazier, 
and then to its being called, as it were, "glowing coals wood," lignum brasile, 
lignum brasilium, etc., and in Italian most commonly brasile and verzino, a 
popular corruption. Heyd, Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen-Age, 
II. 587. On the transference of the name of this wood to a mythical island 
in the Atlantic and then, after the discoveries, to the present country of 
Brazil which produced dye-woods similar to Brasilio, see Yule's art. " Brazil, 
Island of," Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Winsor, Narrative and Critical His- 
tory, I. 49-51. 



1497] LETTERS OF RAIMONDO DE SONCINO 427 

which are caught not only with the net but with baskets, a 
stone being tied to them in order that the baskets may sink 
in the water. And this I heard the said Master John relate. 
And the aforesaid Englishmen, his comrades, say that they 
will bring so many fishes that this kingdom will no longer 
have need of Iceland, from which country there comes a very 
great store of fish which are called stock-fish.^ But Master 
Jolm has set his mind on something greater; for he expects 
to go farther on toward the East ^ from that place already oc- 
cupied, constantly hugging the shore, until he shall be over 
against an island, by him called Cipango, situated in the 
equinoctial region, where he thinks all the spices of the world, 
and also the precious stones, originate ; ^ and he says that in 
former times he was at Mecca, whither spices are brought by 
caravans from distant countries,^ and that those who brought 
them, on being asked where the said spices grow, answered 
that they do not know, but that other caravans come to their 
homes with this merchandise from distant countries, and these 
[caravans] again say that they are brought to them from other 

' Stochfissi. The English word "stockfish" ItaUanized. Of the EngHsh 
fish trade with Iceland, Biggar gives a full account, Voyages of the Cabots, 
pp. 53-62, making frequent citations from G. W. Dasent, Icelandic Annals, 
IV. 427-437. He quotes also a passage from the Libell of English Policy, 
1436, beginning: 

"Of Yseland to wryte is lytille nede 
Save of stokfische ;" etc. 

^ El Levante, here again as a known place, oriented from Europe. His 
destination, not the direction of his route. 

^ In Cabot's mind the Cipango of Marco Polo is confused with the Spice 
Islands. Marco Polo says nothing of the production of spices in his account 
of Cipango. The confusion is probably to be traced to Columbus's reports 
that he had discovered Cipango and that the islands he had discovered 
produced spices. 

* From 1425 Jiddah on the east shore of the Red Sea rapidly displaced 
Aden as an emporium of the spice trade where the cargoes were transshipped 
from Indian to Egyptian vessels. Jiddah is the port of entry for Mecca, 
distant about forty-five miles, and Mecca became a great spice market. See 
Heyd, Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen-Age, II. 445 et seqq., and 
Biggar, Voyages of the Cabots and Corte-Reals, pp. 31-36. Biggar quotes 
interesting passages on the Mecca trade from The Travels of Ludovico di 
Varthema, Hakluyt Society (London, 1863). 



428 VOYAGES OF JOHN CABOT [1497 

remote regions. And he argues thus, — that if the Orientals 
affirmed to the Southerners that these things come from a 
distance from them, and so from hand to hand, presupposing 
the rotundity of the earth, it must be that the last ones get 
them at the North toward the West ; ^ and he said it in such a 
way, that, having nothing to gain or lose by it, I too believe it : 
and what is more, the King here, who is wise and not lavish, 
likewise puts some faith in him ; for (ever) since his return he 
has made good provision for him, as the same Master John 
tells me. And it is said that, in the spring, his Majesty afore- 
named will fit out some ships, and will besides give him all the 
convicts, and they will go to that country to make a colony, 
by means of which they hope to establish in London a greater 
emporium of spices than there is in Alexandria; and the 
chief men of the enterprise are of Bristol, great sailors, who, 
now that they know where to go, say that it is not a voyage 
of more than fifteen days, nor do they ever have storms after 
they get away from Hibernia. I have also talked with a Bur- 
gundian, a comrade of Master John's, who confirms every- 
thing, and wishes to return thither because the Admiral (for 
so Master John already entitles himself) ^ has given him an 
island ; and he has given another one to a barber of his from 
Castiglione-of-Genoa, and both of them regard themselves as 
Counts, nor does my Lord the Admiral esteem himself any- 
thing less than a Prince. I think that with this expedition 
there will go several poor Italian monks, who have all been 
promised bishoprics. And, as I have become a friend of the 
Admiral's, if I wished to go thither I should get an archbish- 
opric. But I have thought that the benefices which your 

' I.e., a place far enough east from Arabia to be thought of as west 
from Europe. After making all due allowances one may be excused for feeling 
some misgiving whether John Cabot actually ever was in Mecca. While some 
of the spices and eastern commodities were brought overland by caravan 
from Ormuz or Bassora, the greater part came by water to Jiddah. At Jiddah 
he could hardly have failed to get fairly accurate information as to where 
the spices came from. That one who had seen that great commerce should 
have remained so much in the dark as to conclude that spices came from 
northeastern Asia is strange enough. 

^ In imitation of Columbus. 



1498] DESPATCH OF PEDRO DE AYALA 429 

Excellency has in store for me are a surer thing; and there- 
fore I beg that if these should fall vacant in my absence, you 
will cause possession to be given to me, taking measures to 
do this rather where it is needed, in order that they be not 
taken from me by others, who because they are present can 
be more diligent than I, who in this country have been brought 
to the pass of eating ten or twelve dishes at every meal, and 
sitting at table three hours at a time twice a day,^ for the sake 
of your Excellency, to whom I humbly commend myself. 
Your Excellency's 

Very humble servant, 

Raimondo. 
London, Dec. 18, 1497. 

DESPATCH TO FERDINAND AND ISABELLA FROM 
PEDRO DE AYALA JUNIOR AMBASSADOR AT THE 
COURT OF ENGLAND, JULY 25, 1498=^ 

I THINK your Majesties have already heard that the King 
of England has equipped a fleet in order to discover certain 
islands and mainland which he was informed some people from 

^ English social joys in the fifteenth century did not appeal to the more 
refined Italians. An interesting parallel to this comment of Raimondo de 
Soneino is to be found in Vespasiano's life of Poggio. "Pope Martin sent 
him with letters to England. He strongly condemned their life, consuming 
the time in eating and drinking. He was used to say in pleasantry that 
oftentimes being invited by those prelates or English gentlemen to dinner or 
to supper and staying four hours at the table he must needs rise from the table 
many times to wash his eyes with cold water so as not to fall asleep." Ves- 
pasiano da Bisticci, Vite di Uomini Illustri del Secolo XV. (Florence, 1859), 
p. 420. 

^ The original is in the archives at Simancas partly in cipher. It was dis- 
covered and deciphered by Bergenroth and published in the Calendar of 
State Papers, Spanish Series, I., pp. 176-177. The Spanish text was published 
by Harrisse, Jean et Sebastien Cabot, pp. 329-330, and in Weare, Cabot's 
Discovery, pp. 160-161. Bergenroth 's translation is given here, carefully 
revised. The contents of this letter were briefly summarized in a despatch 
to the Catholic sovereigns by Dr. Puebla, their senior ambassador, which was 
transmitted at or about the same time with that of Ayala. The Puebla 
despatch, which contains nothing not in the Ayala despatch, can be seen in 
Weare, p. 159. 



430 VOYAGES OF JOHN CABOT 

Bristol, who manned a few ships ^ for the same purpose last 
year, had found. I have seen the map which the discoverer 
has made, who is another Genoesq^like Colon I«iTS ?] ^ who has 
been in Seville and in Lisbon, asking assistance for this dis- 
covery. The people of Bristol have, for the last seven years, 
sent out every year two, three, or four light ships (caravelas), 
in search of the island of Brazil and the seven cities,^ accord- 
ing to the fancy of this Genoese. The King determined to 
send out [sliips], because, the year before, they brought cer- 
tain news that they had found land. The fleet consisted of 
five vessels, which carried provisions for one year. It is said 
that one of them, in which another Fai [Friar ?] Bull * went, 
has returned to Ireland in great distress, the ship being much 
damaged. The Genoese continued his voyage. I, having 
seen the route which they took, and the distance they sailed, 
find that what they have found, or what they are in search of, 
is what your Highnesses already possess since it is, in fine, 
what fell to your Highnesses by the treaty with Portugal.^ 
It is expected that they will be back in the month of Sep- 
tember. I inform your Highnesses in regard to it. The king of 
England has often spoken to me on this subject. He hoped 
to derive great advantage from it. I think it is not further 
distant than four hundred leagues. I told him that, in my 
opinion, the land was already in the possession of your Majes- 
ties; but, though I gave him my reasons, he did not hke it. 
Because I beheve that your Highnesses will presently receive 
information in regard to all this matter, and the chart or map 
which this man has made, I do not now send it ; it is here and 
it, according to my opinion, is false, in order to make it appear 
that they are not the said islands. 

^ In this Ayala would seem to have been misinformed. Cf. pp. 423, 425. 

^ The "and" is not in the original, but is supplied by all the editors. It 
is not absolutely certain that it belongs there. If it does, the passage implies 
that Cabot had recently been in Seville and Lisbon to enlist interest in his 
second voyage. 

' This information is not elsewhere confirmed. On Brazil and the Seven 
Cities, see p. 426, note 2, and p. 425, note 1. 

* One Friar Buil went with Columbus on his second voyage. 

" The treaty of Tordesillas, June 7, 1494; see p. 323, note 3. 



INDEX 



Aburema, 394 n. 

AcijL Bay of, 188 n., 197, 198 n. 

Adam of Bremen, and reliability of 
Vinland tradition, 13; Descriptio 
Insularum Aquilonis, extract, 67- 
68. 

Aden, decline of spice trade, 427 n. 

Admiral, office of, 78 n., 79. 

Affonso, Rodrigo, and' Columbus, 324. 

Agesinba, identified by Columbus 
with Cape of Good Hope, 397 n. 

Aguado, Juan, 377, 379. 

Aguja, Point of, 344, 345. 

Alcagovas, Treaty of, 254 n. 

Alexander VI., pope, letter concern- 
ing projected voyage of newly 
appointed Bishop of Gardar, 73-74. 

Almirante Bay, 393 n. 

Alonso, Roderigo, see Affonso, Rodrigo. 

"Alto de Juan Danue," 133 n. 

Alto Velo, mountain, 3651 

Alto y Bajo, Cabo, 188. 

America and Vinland voyages, 7-13; 
and Asia, 126, 131, 134, 135, 136, 
145, 157, 174, 268; mainland dis- 
covered by John Cabot, 423; main- 
land discovered by Columbus, 333. 

Amianus, see Arrianus. 

Amiga, La, island, 198, 199, 208. 

Angel, Cabo del, 220. 

Antilia, legendary island, 101 n., 425 n. 

Arana, Diego de, 183 n.; sent ashore, 
200; remains in Espanola, 209-210; 
mentioned, 321. 

Arana, Pedro de, despatched to Es- 
panola, 321. 

Arena, Las Islas de, 130. 

Arenal, Punta del, 334. 

Arnarstapi, Gudrid in, 18, 

Arnlaug, settles in Greenland, 47. 

Arnold, Bishop of Greenland, 69 n. 

Arrianus, history of India, 329 n. 



Asia, Columbus believes Cuba to be 
part of, 396 n.; and John Cabot's 
landfall, 425. 

Aslak of Langadal, 16. 

Asuncion, Isla de la, 356. 

Aud the Wealthy, 14; in Iceland, 15. 

Avalldamon, reported to be a king of 
the Skrellings, 41. 

Ayala, Pedro de, despatch to Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella, 429-430. 

Ayay, see Guadeloupe. 

Azores, reports of land to westward, 
93; mentioned, 236, 237, 329; 
Columbus at, 243-249; and De- 
marcation Line, 323, 326, 416. 

Azua, Columbus in, 391 n. 

Azules, Punta de los, 166 n. 

Babeque, Columbus sails towards, 143, 
147; reports of gold, 181, 184, 214- 
215; sighted, 150-151; Martin 
Alonso Pinzon seeks, 152, 214-215; 
Columbus seeks, 167, 179; described 
by Indians, 174. 

Babueca, island, 346. 

Bafan, 136. 

Ballena, Gulf of, 334, 339, 345, 349, 355. 

Baneque, see Babeque. 

Banes, Puerto de, 132 n. 

Baracoa, Puerto de, 131 n.-133 n.; 
Columbus enters, 158 n.-159; inland 
explorations, 161-162; Columbus 
sets up cross, 162; Columbus sails 
from, 166. 

Bardsen, Ivar, account of Greenland, 
11, 71 n. 

Bassora, spice caravans, 428 n. 

Bastidas, Rodrigo de, voyage, 416 n. 

Bastimentos, harbor of, Columbus in, 
398-399. 

Becerro, Cabo del, 213. 

Behechio, an Indian ruler, 345. 



431 



432 



INDEX 



Belem, river, 401 n. ; settlement near, 
403 n. 

Belprado, Cape, 220. 

Belpuerto, 394 n., 399 n., 405. 

Beothuk Indians, 41 n. 

Biarney, 32. 

Biarni, Grimolf's son, 30; accompanies 
expedition to Vinland, 31-32, 35; 
fate, 39, 42-43. 

Biarni Hei'julfson, and discovery of 
America, 8-9, 12; voyage, 48-50. 

Blacksark, discovered, 17, 46. 

Boavista, Columbus at, 324-325. 

Bobadilla, Francisco de, 375; gover- 
nor, 376; and Columbus, 376-383, 
417 n.; proclaims immunities, 376; 
takes Columbus prisoner, 380; dis- 
tributes gold, 380; appropriates 
Columbus's house, 383. 

Bohio, 126, 146, 147; inhabitants, 153, 
156, 167; sighted, 167; size, 174; 
reports of gold, 202; Columbus in, 
295. 

Boma, Rio, 166 n. 

Boto, Cape, 340, 353, 354. 

Brand of Alptafirth, sons of, 45. 

Brand, Bishop, the Elder, and chronol- 
ogy of Vinland voyages, 6-7, 43 n. 

Brattahlid, Eric in, 23, 27, 46, 48, 50; 
Biarni and Thorfinp Karlsefni in, 
30-31; Leif arrives, 54; Gudrid 
comes to, 59. 

Brazil, discovery, 326 n. 

Brazil, mythical island, 426 n., 430. 

Brazil, port of, Espaiiola, 407. 

Breidabolstad, 16. 

Breidafirth, Eric goes to, 17, 45, 46. 

Bristol, and expedition of John Cabot, 
423, 425, 428, 430; and search for 
the Seven Cities, 430. 

Brokey, Eric takes possession, 16. 

Buen Tiempo, Cabo del, 220. 

Bull, Friar, 430. 

Burenquen, 294-295. See also Porto 
Rico. 

Cabanas, Puerto de las, 353. 

Cabanas, Punta de, 132 n. 

Cabo Rico, 356. 

Cabo Santo, 211, 212. 

Cabot, John, sources of information, 
421-422; letter of Lorenzo Pas- 
qualigo, 423-424; voyage of 1497, 



423-424; landfall, 423 n., 426; re- 
ception, 424, 428; new voyage pro- 
posed, 428; and title admiral, 428; 
map, 426, 430. 

Cabot, Sebastian, and father's voyages, 
421. 

Cabra, 213 n., 296 n. 

Cabral, route of, 326 n. 

Cabron, Cabo, 221 n. 

Cadiz, and proposed inspection of 
ships from Indies, 277; Columbus's 
departui-e, 283. 

Caithness, conquered by Thorstein the 
Red and Earl Sigurd the Mighty, 
14. 

Cambodia, supposed connection of 
Costa Rica and Panama with, 397 n. 

Campana, Cabo de, Columbus ap- 
proaches, 156-158. 

Canaries, Columbus at, 92-94, 283- 
284, 320-323; French ship at, 320; 
pearls, 364. 

Caonab6, King, and fate of first settle- 
ment in Espaiiola, 300, 303, 304, 
307; mentioned, 312. 

Cape Breton Island, and Karlsefni's 
voyages, 40 n.; and landfall of John 
Cabot, 423 n. 

Cape Verde Islands, 103; and Hes- 
perides, 322; and Demarcation 
Line, 323, 326, 416; Columbus at, 
324-326. 

Carabelas grandes, Boca de, 134 n. 

Caracol, Bay of, Columbus anchors in, 
299 n. 

Caracol, El, island, 340, 353. 

Carambaru, 393, 394 n. 

Cariay, 393; Indians of, 409. 

Carib, island of, 223, 225, 226, 229, 230. 
See also Porto Rico. 

Caribata, Cabo de, 188. 

Caribata, Monte, described, 188; men- 
tioned, 196, 199. 

Caribs, 203; houses, 286, 289; re- 
ported cannibalism, 286, 288-290; 
industry, 289; appearance, 289, 
293; treatment of captives, 290- 
291; several captured, 292, 293; 
fight with Spaniards, 293; and 
natives of Porto Rico, 294; men- 
tioned, 322, 330, 348, 359. 

Caritaba, province of, reports of gold, 
202. 



INDEX 



433 



Carvajal, Alonso Sanchez de, de- 
spatched to Espanola, 321. 

Cascaes, Columbus at, 251. 

Cassiterides, Columbus identifies with 
Azores, 329. 

Castaneda, Juan de, attempt to seize 
Columbus, 245-248. 

Cateva, 394 n. 

Cathay, Columbus's desire to reach, 
134; supposed proximity to Cuba, 
405; emperor's embassy to Rome, 
414. 

Catholicism, in Greenland, 70-74; 
Columbus urges its establishment in 
Espanola, 274-275, 361. 

Catiba, Columbus in, 394 n. 

Catigara, location, 396-397. 

Caxinas, Point, named, 391 n.; men- 
tioned, 392 n. 

Cajrmanos Chicos, islands, sighted, 
405 n. 

Cayre, 293. See also Dominica. 

Central America, exploration of coast, 
387. 

Cerabora, see Carambaru. 

Ceyre, 290. See also Dominica. 

Chanca, Dr., letter to Cabildo of Seville, 
280-313. 

China, Columbus's behef that he had 
reached, 397 n. 

Christianity, introduced into Green- 
land, 23-26; in Greenland, 29, 56, 
57,71-74; in Iceland, 46; and New 
World, 352. 

Chuzona chica, Rio, 219 n. 

Ciamba, province of, 393. 

Cibao, 197; reports of gold, 202; 
mentioned, 206; explored, 312- 
313; mines, 338. 

Ciguare, described by natives, 394-395. 

Cinquin, Cabo de, 168; Columbus 
approaches, 171, 174. 

Cipango, 101 n.; Columbus desires to 
find, 113; Cuba mistaken for, 126, 
127, 128, 130; mentioned, 197, 202, 
212. 

Clato, Prior of, entertains Columbus, 
254. 

Cobrava, 394 n. 

Coche, 357. 

Cochin-China, Costa Rica and Panama 
believed to be southern extension of, 
397 n. 

2f 



Colon, see Columbus. 

Colonization, plan of Columbus for 
Espanola, 273-277. 

Columbo, Juan Antonio, despatched 
to Espanola, 321. 

Columbus, Bartholomew, in Espa- 
nola, 321; mentioned, 345; pro- 
jected exploring expedition, 360; 
meets admiral, 366; in Paragua, 
375; taken prisoner, 380; map, 
397 n. 

Columbus, Christopher, contract, 77- 
80; patent, 81-84; first voyage, 
89-258; departure, 90; at Canaries, 
92-94; signs of land, 96-100; 
landfall, 108-109; takes possession, 
110; desire to reach Cipango, 113; 
at Santa Maria de la Concepcion, 
115; at Fernandina, 120; believes 
Cuba to be Cipango, 126; discovers 
Cuba, 130; along coast, 144-168; 
Martin Alonso Pinzon deserts, 152; 
at Espanola, 169-228; reappearance 
of Pinzon, 214; and disaffection of 
Pinzons, 216-219; homeward voy- 
age, 228-258; storm, 241; at 
Azores, 244-249; puts in at Portu- 
gal, 251-256; reception by King of 
Portugal, 251-256; arrival, 257; let- 
ter to Santangei, 263-272; and Cuba, 
263 ; and Espanola, 264 ; duration of 
first voyage, 272; plan for coloniza- 
tion and commerce of Espaiiola, 
273-277; second voyage, 278-313; 
sources of information, 281-282; at 
Canaries, 283-284; at Dominica, 
284-285; at Guadeloupe, 286-291; 
at Porto Rico, 294-295; at Es- 
panola, 295-313; finds settlement 
destroyed, 300; visits Cacique, 304; 
building of city, 308; sickness, 309, 
312; third voyage, 314-366; sources 
of information, 317-318; prepara- 
tions, 319; reception in Madeira, 
320; at Canaries, 320; at Cape 
Verde Islands, 324-326; sends ships 
ahead to Espaiiola, 320-323; in- 
structions concerning treatment of 
Indians, 322; proposed route, 322, 
326, 327; and Demarcation Line, 
326, 382; signs of land, 329-330; 
Trinidad sighted, 331; mainland of 
South America discovered, 333; at 



434 



INDEX 



Trinidad, 335-339; along coast, 
331-351, 353-358, 362; and a New 
World, 352, 355, 356; in Boca del 
Drago, 354; near Margarita, 356- 
357, 362; anxiety about Espanola, 
359-360; reasons for hastening to 
Espanola, 359-362; and Earthly 
Paradise, 364-365; arrival in Es- 
pafiola, 365, 366; misfortunes, 371; 
aid of IsabeUa, 371-372; in dis- 
favor, 372, 375, 378-379; revolt in 
Espaiiola, 374; and Bobadilla, 376- 
383; letter on fourth voyage, sig- 
nificance, 387; fourth voyage, 389- 
418; outward voyage, 389; ar- 
rival at Espanola, 389; forbidden 
to land, 390; storm, 390-392; at 
Queen's Garden, 391; along coast 
of Central America, 391-403, 405; 
search for strait, 391 n. ; illness, 
392-393, 399; geographical con- 
ceptions, 396-398; and Earthly 
Paradise, 398 ; illness, 399 ; tempest, 
399-400 ; sends out exploring party, 
401; trouble with Indians, 402- 
403; establishes settlement, 402; 
reaches Cuba, 406; in Jamaica, 
406; one ship puts into a port of 
Espanola, 407; urges colonization 
of Veragua, 411-413; deplores con- 
dition of Spanish settlements, 415; 
complains of ill-treatment, 416-418. 

Columbus, Diego, brother of Columbus, 
in Espanola, 321 ; taken prisoner, 380. 

Columbus, Diego, son of Columbus, 
page to Prince John, 379; men- 
tioned, 393. 

Columbus, Ferdinand, 241 n., 321; 
page in Queen's household, 379; 
account of fourth voyage, 318, 388, 
392 n. 

Commerce, plan of Columbus for 
Espanola, 273-277; value of Span- 
ish colonies predicted, 415. 

Concepcion, La, island, 356. 

Concepcion, Puerto de la, Columbus 
in, 172-179. 

Conchas, Cabo de, 356. 

Coroay, 206. 

Cosa, Juan de la, master of Santa 
Maria, 200; mentioned, 204. 

Costa Rica, supposed connection with 
Cambodia, 397 n- 



Crooked Island, 123. 

Cuba, mistaken for Cipango, 126-130; 
described by Indians, 130-136; dis- 
covered, 136; mistaken for mainland 
of Asia, 134, 263, 323, 405, 406; 
explorations, 136-148; Columbus 
returns, 153; Columbus leaves, 167; 
mentioned, 176, 263-264, 267, 364, 
391 n.; Columbus lands on fourth 
voyage, 405. 

Cuba, Cabo de, 146, 147. 

Cubagua, reports of pearls, 357, 

Cubiga, 394 n. 

Dama, Alvaro, 253. 

Darien, Gulf of, 405 n. 

Davis, John, voyage to Greenland, 74 n. 

Delfin, El, 340, 353. 

Demarcation Line, and Columbus, 326; 

Papal, 416; agreement between 

Spain and Portugal, 416. 
Diaz, Bartolom6, 252, 397 n. 
Dimunarvag, 16. 
Dogurdar River, country between, and 

Skraumuhlaups River, occupied by 

Aud, 15. 
Dominica, discovered, 285; described 

285; mentioned, 290, 321; report of 

gold, 293; Columbus heads for, 330. 
Drago, Boca del, named, 340; Co- 
lumbus's ships in peril in, 354-355. 
Drangar, 16, 45. 
Drepstokk, Heriulf at, 47. 
Drontheim, Leif arrives in, 47. 
Drontheim, Archbishop of, papal 

letter to, 70 n.; jurisdiction, 71. 
Drontheim, Archbishop Valkendorf 

of, 74 n. 
Dublin, captured by King Olaf, 14. 
Duelling-Hrafn, killed by Eric the 

Red, 16, 45. 

Earthly Paradise, Columbus and, 364- 
365. 

Einar of Laugarbrekka, 18. 

Einar, of Einarsfirth, settles in Green- 
land, 47. 

Einar, son of Thorgeir, 18; sues for 
Gudrid's hand, 19. 

Elefante, Cabo del, 168, 171. 

Enamorado, Cabo del, 221. 

Engano, Cabo del, 229 n., 295 n., 322. 

Enriquez, Beatrix, 321. 



INDEX 



435 



Eric, Earl, visited by Biarni Her- 
julfson, 150. 

Eric the Red, saga of, 3-5, 14-43 
goes to Iceland, 14, 45; in Drangar 
and Haukadal, 15-16, 45; voyage 
16-17, 45-46; discovers Greenland 
16, 17, 46; return to Iceland, 17 
46; fight with Thorgest, 17; names 
and colonizes Greenland, 17, 46 
mentioned, 20; welcomes Thor- 
biorn to Eastern Settlement, 23 
unwilling to embrace Christianity, 
26; and expedition to land discov- 
ered by Leif, 26-27, 50; receives 
Gudrid, 29; welcomes Biarni and 
Thorfinn Karlsefni, 30, 42; men- 
tioned, 31, 33, 56; at Brattahhd, 
48; death, 54. 

Eric Gnupson, Bishop of Greenland, 
expedition, 69. 

Eric Uppsi, see Eric Gnupson. 

Ericsey, Eric the Red at, 17, 46. 

Ericsfirth, Eric the Red at, 17, 46; 
mentioned, 26, 27, 29, 30, 54, 55, 59, 
64. 

Ericsholms, Eric in, 17. 

Ericsstad, Eric at, 16. 

Ericsstadir, Eric the Red in, 15, 45. 

Ericsvag, 16, 45. 

Escocesa, Bahia, 220 n. 

Escobedo, Rodrigo de, 110, 184; re- 
mains in Espanola, 209, 210. 

Escudo, Puerto, 168 n., 171 n. 

Eskimos, and Vinland, 10, 41 n.; and 
Greenlanders, 71 n.-72 n. 

Espanola discovered, 168; named, 
173, 264; natives, 175-177, 180- 
187, 190-196, 198, 201-203, 205- 
210, 222-225, 265-269, 297-307; 
products, 177, 178; climate, 178; 
description, 181-182, 192-193, 264- 
268; Columbus praises land and 
people, 198, 201, 202; first settle- 
ment, 204, 206, 268; reports of gold, 
215; coast explored, 215-228; rec- 
ommendations of Columbus for 
colonization and commerce, 273- 
277; return of Columbus, 295; 
scenery, 296 ; fate of first settlement, 
300-304; building of city Isabella, 
308; products, 310-312; ships de- 
spatched to, 320-323; supplies for, 
348-350, 353; revolts, 360, 366, 



373; colonists, 373, 374-377; arrival 
of Bobadilla, 375-378; Columbus 
taken prisoner, 380; mining, 382; 
Columbus forbidden to land, 390; 
and Columbus's fourth voyage, 406- 
408; condition, 415. 

Estrella, Cabo de la, 168, 171. 

Exploring expeditions, independent, 
authorized by Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, 360. 

Eyiulf of Sviney, 16, 45. 

Eyiulf the Foul, 15, 16, 45. 

Eyrar, Biarni arrives at, 48. 

Eyxney, 16, 45. 

Fava, 134. 

Fayal, mentioned, 235. 

Ferdinand and Isabella, contract with 
Columbus, 77-80; and route to 
Indies, 78; patent to Columbus, 
81-84; war with Moors, 89; and 
Demarcation Line, 323, 326; and 
Columbus, 331; authorize inde- 
pendent exploring expeditions, 360; 
and Hojeda, 373; and Bobadilla, 
376 ; and Columbus's fourth voyage, 
389-418. 

Fernandina, discovered, 116-117, 263; 
Columbus approaches, 118; natives, 
119; described, 119; coast ex- 
plored, 120-122; sighted, 129. 

Ferro, island of, 93, 104, 112, 137, 
237, 284, 323. 

Finnbogi, voyage to Wineland, 62, 
63; death, 64. 

Flat Island Book, 3; composition, 4; 
"The Vinland History," and col- 
lateral sources, 8-9; reliability of 
"Vinland History" questioned, 8- 
10, 12. 

Flechas, Golfo de las, 228. 

Flechas, Puerto de las, Columbus in, 
222-228. 

Flores, island, 235-237. 

Fortunate Isles, and first meridian of 
Marinus, 396 n. 

Fraile, Punta del, 166 n. 

Frances, Cabo, 220. 

Frances, Puerto, 199 n. 

Frederick, Bishop, in Iceland, 46. 

Freydis, 32; drives off Skrellings, 38; 
fate, 39; marriage, 48; voyage to 
Vinland, 62-64; and death of Helgi 



436 



INDEX 



and Finnbogi, 63-64; return, 64- 
65. 

Froda-wonder, 24. 

Fuma, 206. 

Funchal, Columbus in, 320. 

Furdustrandir, see Wonder-strands. 

Galeota, Cape, Columbus sees, 332 n. 

Galera, Cabo de la, 332. 

Gallega, La, ship of Columbus on fourth 
voyage, 390. 

Gama, Vasco da, 323 n.; in south 
Atlantic, 323 n., 326 n. 

Gard, overseer at Lysufirth, death, 
27, 29. 

Gardar, Freydis at, 48; Freydis 
leaves, 62; bishopric of, in fifteenth 
century, 70-74. 

Gatos, Puerto de, 353. 

Geirstein, 16. 

Geography, Columbus's conceptions 
of world, 387, 396-398. 

Glaumboeiar-land, Thorfinn Karlsefni 
in, 65. 

Glaumbcer, church in, 66. 

Gomera, Columbus at, 93, 284, 320; 
mentioned, 94. 

Gomera, Count of, see Peraza, Guillen. 

Good Hope, Cape of, 397 n. 

Gordo, Puerto, 400. 

Gottskalk, Annals of, quoted, 69 n. 

Government of Espanola, Columbus's 
plan, 274; Columbus's desire to be 
relieved, 375; Bobadilla's arrival, 
375-376 ; immunities proclaimed, 
376-378. 

Gracia, Isla de, 338-341. 

Gracia, Rio de, 219. 

Gracias k Dios, Cape, 391, 392 n. 

Gran Can, 89; embassy to Rome, 
89; and Columbus's belief that he 
has reached Asia, 126, 131, 134, 
135, 136, 145, 157, 174, 268; and 
Cabot's landfall, 423. 

Gran Canada, Columbus at, 92, 283. 

Granja, Puerto de la, 187 n. 

Greenland, Norse colonists, 10; dis- 
covery, 17; explored, 17; named, 
17; colonization, 17; Thorbiorn in 
Western Settlement, 20-23; in- 
troduction of Christianity, 23-26; 
sickness in Western Settlement, 27- 
29, 57-59; Biarni and Thorfinn 



Karlsefni in, 30-32, 59; return of 
Thorfinn Karlsefni, 62; Helgi and 
Finnbogi in, 62; mentioned, 67 n.; 
bishopric of Gardar, 71-74; con- 
ditions in colony, 71-74. 

Grimhild, death and burial, 57, 58. 

Guacamari, see Guacanagarl. 

Guacanagarl, Indian cacique, 193 n., 
207; Columbus takes leave of, 209- 
210; mentioned, 298-300, 303, 361; 
suspected of treachery, 301, 305- 
307; receives Columbus, 304-305. 

Guadalquivir River, 180. 

Guadeloupe, 225 n., 290 n.; Columbus 
at, 286; mentioned, 343; natives re- 
port mainland to south, 359. 

Guaigo, 394 n. 

Guanahani, discovered, 110, 263; Co- 
lumbus takes possession of, 110; 
natives, 111-113; mentioned, 131, 
134, 151. 

Guanaja, Columbus at, 391 n., 392 n. 

Guarico, 188 n., 196 n. 

Guarionex, 206. 

Gudrid, ancestry, 15 n., 18; in Arnar- 
stapi, 18; return to Laugarbrekka, 
19; and prophecy of Thorbiorg, 
22-23; marries Thorstein Ericson, 
27, 56; in Western Settlement, 
Greenland, 27-29, 57-59; goes to 
Eastern Settlement, 29, 59; marries 
Thorfinn Karlsefni, 31, 59; goes to 
Iceland, 43; descendants, 43-44, 66; 
accompanies Thorfinn Karlsefni to 
Vinland, 60-61; in Iceland, 66. 

Guevara. Ferdinand de, in Xaragua, 
374. 

Guiga, 399 n. 

Guinea, 145; and reported trade of 
canoes with land to west, 326; 
navigation of Portuguese, 332; ex- 
ploration, 351-352. 

Guisay, see Quinsay. 

Gunnbiorn, son of Ulf the Crow, voy- 
age, 16, 46. 

Gunnbiorns-skerries, discovered, 16, 46. 

Gutierrez, Pedro, 109; sent ashore, 
200; remains in Espanola, 209-210. 

Haekia, in Vinland, 33. 

Hafgrim, settles in Greenland, 47. 

Haki, in Vinland, 33. 

Halldis, 18; death, 20; mentioned, 22. 



INDEX 



437 



Hallveig, daughter of Einar, 18. 

Hanno, voyage, 328. 

Harold, the Stern-ruler, King of Nor- 
way, voyage, 68. 

Haukadal, Eric the Red in, 15; Eric 
banished, 16, 45. 

Hauk Erlendsson, book, 3-5; re- 
liability, 8. 

Hayti, 168 n., 295, 391 n. 

Hebrides, Aud and Thorstein go to, 
14; Leif in, 24-25. 

Helgi, voyage to Wineland, 62-63; 
death, 64. 

Helgi Thorbrandsson, settles in Green- 
land, 47. 

Helluland, identification, 10; named, 
51; explored, 32. 

Henry VII., of England, reception of 
John Cabot, 424; plan of second 
voyage, 425, 428; preparations for 
second voyage, 429. 

Heriulf, accompanies Eric the Red to 
Greenland, 46-47; at Heriulf sness, 
48-49. 

Heriulf sness, Thorbiorn arrives in, 20; 
Heriulf at, 46, 48-49. 

Hermoso, Cabo, 123, 124. 

Hesperides, and Cape Verde Islands, 
322 n. 

Hierro, island, see Ferro. 

Hierro, Punta del, 220. 

Hojeda, Alonso de, 312 n.; explores 
Cibao, 313 n.; voyage, 360, 416 n.; 
arrival in Espaiiola, 373; mentioned, 
376. 

Holar, Bishop of, ordered to inquire 
into affairs of Gardar bishopric, 73. 

Holmar, Eric winters at, 46. 

Holmlatr, Eric spends winter in, 17. 

Hop, Karlsefni at, 36, 39, 40-41. 

Horn-Strands, 45. 

Hrafn, settles in Greenland, 47. 

Hrafnsfirth, Eric enters, 17, 46. 

Hrafnsgnipa, 46. 

Huego, reports of land to the south- 
west, 326. 

Hvamm, Aud in, 15. 

Hvarfsgnipa, 17. 

Hvitramanna-land, 42. 

Ibarro, Bernaldo de, quoted, 336. 
Iceland, saga-telling period, 7; Eric 
and Thorvald in, 15, 45 ; mentioned, 



17, 18; the Froda-wonder, 24; 
Thorfinn Karlsefni sails to, 43, 65; 
Biarni Herjulfson in, 48; extracts 
from A nnales regit, 69 ; English fish 
trade, 427. 

Iguana Grande, island, 215 n. 

Illugi, son of Aslak, 16. 

Indians, trade with Columbus, 111- 
113, 119, 121, 127, 135, 142, 165, 
194-195; enslaved, 112, 144, 145, 
267, 287, 292, 293, 343-344; Co- 
lumbus's pohcy towards, 110, 116- 
118, 126, 192, 194, 195, 322; named, 
110; and tobacco-smoking, 141; 
signal fires, 180, 224; fight with 
Spaniards, 224, 292-293; weapons, 
307; of Guanahani, 110-112; of 
Santa Maria de la Concepcion, 115- 
116; of Fernandina, 119-122; of 
Cuba, 139-142; of Espaiiola, 175- 
177, 180-187, 190-196, 198, 201- 
203, 205-210, 222-225, 265-269, 
297-307; at Trinidad, 335-336; of 
mainland of South America, 342- 
344, 347; of Veragua, 402. See 
also Caribs and Mayas. 

Ingolf, colonist of Iceland, 17, 47. 

Innocent VIII., pope, elects Matthias 
Bishop of Gardar, 74. 

Ireland, Thorhall driven ashore on, 35. 

Ireland the Great, see Hvitramanna- 
land. 

Isabelica, Punta, 217 n. 

Isabella, aids Columbus, 371-372; 
reports of illness, 373. See also 
Ferdinand and Isabella. 

Isabella, in Espanola, preparations for 
city, 308; Columbus's departure, 
366; mentioned, 321, 322. 

Isabella, island, discovered by Colum- 
bus, 123, 124, 263; Columbus leaves 
128; mentioned, 151. 

Isleo, Cabo del, 127, 128. 

Jacmel, 407 n. 

Jaederen, Thorvald and Eric the Red 
leave, 15, 45. 

Jamaica, 215, 338; Columbus's ship- 
wreck, 387; Columbus bound for, 
389; Columbus reaches, 406. 

Jardines, described, 344; natives, 
345-346. 

Jerez, Rodrigo de, 136. 



438 



INDEX 



Jerome, St., 414, 

Jews, expulsion from Spain, 90. 

Jiddah, spice trade, 427 n. 

Joachim, Abbot, prophecy, 413-414. 

John II., of Portugal, grant to Fernam 
Dominguez do Arco, 93 n.; receives 
Columbus, 253-255; and Demar- 
cation Line, 323, 326. 

John, prince of Castile, 323, 369. 

Jon Thordsson, and Flat Island Book, 4. 

Juana, see Cuba. 

Karlsefni, see Thorfinn Karlsefni. 
Keelness, 33, 35, 39, 55. 
Ketil, settles in Greenland, 46. 
Kialarnes, see Keelness. 

Labrador, and John Cabot's first 
voyage, 423 n. 

Lagartos, Rio de los, 400 n. 

Lanzada, Punta, 179. 

Lanzarote, 92. 

Lapa, Cape of, 340; pearl fisheries 
near, 346; Columbus near, 353, 354. 

La Vega, Columbus at, 375. 

Leif Ericson, and discovery of America, 
8, 11; date of voyage, 12, 43 n.; in 
Norway, 24-25, 47; discovery, 25, 
50-54 ; introduces Christianity in 
Greenland, 26; mentioned, 33, 59, 
62, 63; displeasure at Freydis, 65. 

Leif's-booths in Vinland, Thorvald 
reaches, 54-55; Thorfinn Karls- 
efni 's arrival, 60. 

Leikskalar, Eric at, 16. 

Lepe, Diego de, voyage, 416 n. 

Levantados, Cayo de, 221 n. 

Lindo, Cabo, 166. 

Lisbon, Columbus driven into river 
by tempest, 251, 379; John Cabot's 
presence in, alleged, 430. 

Liana, Punta, 349. 

Llandra, Columbus at, 256. 

Long Island, 117 n. 

Lucayos, discovered, 110. 

Luengo, Cabo, 356. 

Luna, Rio de la, 132. 

Lybia, voyage of Hanno from, 328. 

Lysufirth, 27, 57. 

Macorix, 206. 

Macuris, Punta, 220 n. 

Madama Beata, island, named, 365. 



Madeira, 236, 243, 250; Columbus at, 
320. 

Magnus Thorhallsson, and Flat Island 
Book, 4. 

Mago, see Mango. 

Maici, Punta de, 158 n. 

Maldonado, Melchior, explores Es- 
panola, 302-303. 

Mango, Cuba mistaken for, 405, 408. 

Manzanillo, Bahia de, 212 n. 

Maravi, Port of, 158 n. 

Mares, Puerto de, advantages for 
settlement, 140; Columbus leaves, 
143. 

Mares, Rio de, Columbus in, 132, 133, 
135, 144 ; mentioned, 147, 160, 176. 

Margarita, discovered, 356; Columbus 
leaves vicinity, 362-363. 

Margot, Puerto, 187 n., 188 n. 

Maria, Puerto, 168. 

Marigalante, ship, 284 n. 

Marigalante, island, 285. 

Marinus, conception of world, 396-397. 

Markland, identification, 10; natives, 
11; expedition of Thorfinn Karls- 
efni, 32, 41; named by Leif, 51; 
mentioned, 69. 

Marmoro, 405 n. 

Marquez, Diego, 288. 

Martian, quoted, 67. 

Martinet, El, island, 356-357. 

Martinique, 225 n. 

Martyr, Peter, account of Columbus's 
fourth voyage, 388. 

Maternillo, Punta del, 135 n. 

Matinino, island, inhabitants, 223, 
225, 270; copper reported, 226; 
Columbus desires to see, 228-229; 
mentioned, 230. 

Matthias, elected Bishop of Gardar, 74. 

Mayas, 215 n.; culture, 394 n.; sculp- 
tures, 409-410; animals, 410; lan- 
guage, 411. 

Mayonic, 206. 

Mayreni, King, reported to have 
killed Spaniards, 300, 302, 303. 

Mayrones, Francis de, quoted, 359. 

Mecca, Cabot in, 426 n., 427; spice 
trade of, 427 n. 

Micmac Indians, appearance, 36 n. 

Midiokul, 46. 

Mines, Espanola, 382; of Spanish 
colonies, value predicted, 415. 



INDEX 



439 



Missions, need in New World, 274, 361. 

Moa, Rio de, 154 n. 

Moa, Sierras de, 154 n. 

Mogens Heinesen, 74 n. 

Mona, island of, 322. 

Monte, Cabo del, 166. 

Monte Cristi, 212; described, 213; 

mentioned, 216, 218, 296; harbor 

described, 298. 
Montserrat, 291 n. 
Moray, conquered by Thorstein the 

Red and Earl Sigurd the Mighty, 14. 
Mosquito, Bahia, 172 n. 
Mosquito Coast, Columbus on, 393 n. 
Mosquitos, Punto de, 405 n. 
Moya, Cayo de, 153. 
Mulas, Punta de, 132 n. 
Muxica, Adrian de, revolt, 374. 

Navidad, fort built, 206; Columbus 
leaves settlement, 209-211, 268- 
269, 271; gold, 217; anxiety of 
Columbus about, 224; Columbus 
finds settlement destroyed, 298-304; 
mentioned, 361. 

Navigation, between Spain and Es- 
paiiola, recommendations of Co- 
lumbus, 276-277; compass, 363 n. ; 
difficulties due to strong currents, 
408-409. 

New Spain, discovery postponed by 
Roldan's revolt, 360. 

Nicholas V., letter to Bishops of 
Skalholt and Holar, 70-73. 

Nidaros, Leif reaches, 47. 

Nina, ship, 96, 97, 102; crew report 
land, 106; mentioned, 108, 116, 
122, 139; Indians escape from, 115- 
116, 150; new fittings, 155; Co- 
lumbus on, 201. 

Nino, Pedro Alonso, 236. 

Nipe, 131 n. 

Niti, 309, 312; reports of gold, 313. 

Nombre de Dios, 394 n., 399. 

Norona, D. Martin de, 253; escorts 
Columbus, 256. 

North America, voyages of Northmen, 
25, 50-54, 47-49; 54-56, 31-42, 59- 
62, 62-64,67, 69; Cabot's landfall, 
422. 

Northmen in America, sources, 3-13; 
identification of localities, 10; dates, 
12, 43 n. 



Norway, Eric the Red and Thorvald 
leave, 15, 45; Leif in, 25, 47; Thor- 
finn Karlsefni sails from, 59; Thor- 
finn Karlsefni in, 65. 

Nova Scotia, and Northmen, 10; Ind- 
ians, 36 n.; climate, 37 n.; and 
voyage of Thorfinn Karlsefni, 40 n., 
41 n. 

Nuestra Seiiora, Mar de, 148; Colum- 
bus re-enters, 153; mentioned, 160. 

Nuevitas del Principe, Puerto de las, 
131 n., 132 n. 

Odd, of Jorva, 16. 

Olaf the White, King, in Ireland, 14. 

Olaf Tryggvason, King of Norway, 24; 
and Christianity in Greenland, 25- 
26, 71; and Leif Ericson, 25, 33, 
47. 

Orinoco, Columbus near mouth, 334 n. 

Orkneys, Aud the Wealthy sails to, 14. 

Orm of Arnarstapi, 18 ; entertains 
Gudrid, 18-19; starts with Thor- 
biorn to Greenland, 20; death, 20. 

Oro, Rio del, 217, 218. 

Ovando, and Columbus, 390. 

Padre y Hijo, Cabo de, 221. 

Palmas, Cabo de, 133. 

Palmista, Punta, 168 n. 

Panama, coast explored, 387, 394 n.; 
supposed connection with Cam- 
bodia, 397 n. 

Paria, discovery, 339, 373; described, 
340, 341; pearls, 346, 348, 373; 
natives, 346-347; Columbus near, 
353, 354; explored by Hojeda and 
Pinzon, 360 n.; condition, 415. 

Paria, Gulf of, 337 n., 340 n., 350 n. 

Peraza, Dona Ines, 93. 

Peraza, Guillen, 93. 

P^rez, Alonso, sights land, 330. 

Perlas, Golpho de las, 350; Columbus 
explores, 355, 356, 358. 

Pico, Cabo de, 156. 

Pierna, Punta, 178. 

Pinta, ship, rudder disabled, 92; re- 
paired, 92-93; sails ahead of Ad- 
miral's ship, 97-98; crew sights 
land, 108-109; mentioned, 120, 122, 
133, 138, 211; leaves other ships, 
152; news, 205, 207; reappearance, 
214; on coast of Espanola, 215, 219; 



440 



INDEX 



weakness of mast, 232; leaves 
Nina, 238. 

Pinzon, Martin Alonso, at the Canaries, 
92; sails ahead of Columbus, 97- 
98; and Columbus, 100-101; claims 
to see land, 102; advises course, 106, 
120; at Guanahani, 110; mentioned, 
120, 127, 134, 138, 211, 232; leaves 
Admiral's fleet, 152; rejoins NiTia, 
214; on coast of Espanola, 215, 
219 ; Columbus disapproves of, 214, 
216; runs Pinta ahead of Nina, 238. 

Pinzon, Vicente Yanez, 108 n.; at 
Guanahani, 110; at Espanola, 207; 
disaffection, 216; quoted, 235; 
charts route, 237; voyage, 360 n., 
373, 416 n. 

Plata, Monte de, 220. 

Plata, Puerto de, 220 n., 296 n,, 346. 

Playa, Punta de la, 333. 

Pliny, quoted, 324, 348, 353. 

Polo, Marco, 364, 393 n., 406 n., 426 n. 

Porras, Diego de, report of fourth 
voyage of Columbus, 388, 407 n. 

Port Clarence, Long Island, 120 n. 

Porto Rico, 223, 225; reports of gold, 
225; copper reported, 226; loca- 
tion, 230; Columbus at, 294-295; 
mentioned, 321, 338, 359, 408. 

Portugal, relations with Spain, 246. 
Columbus received in, 253-256; 
and Demarcation Line, 323, 416 n., 
430; and treaty of Tordesillas, 430. 

Pozas, Isla de las, 408. 

Principe, Puerto del, 148; Columbus 
leaves, 150; Columbus returns tow- 
ards, 151. 

Ptolemy, geographical system, 329 n., 
396-397. 

Puerto Sancto, Columbus at, 320. 

Puerto Santo, in Cuba, Columbus at, 
162-166; natives, 164-165. 

Punta Santa, 196, 199. 

Queen's Garden, islands, 391, 405 n. 
Quinsay, and Columbus's belief in 

Asian landfall, 126, 136 n., 406 n. 
Quintero, Crist6bal, and the Pinta, 92. 

Rascon, Gomes, and the Pinta, 92. 
Rastelo, Columbus passes, 251; ship 

of King of Portugal near, 252. 
Ratos, Isla de, 198 n. 



Redondo, Cabo, 220. 
Retrete, harbor, 399, 405 n. 
Reyniness, Thorfinn Karlsefni in, 43. 
Ricchieri, Ludovico, Antiquarum Lee- ' 

tionum Libri XVI., 329 n. 
Rico, Cabo, 356. 
Roca, Cabo de la, 220 n. 
Roja, Punta, 217. 
Roldan, the pilot, 235; charts route, 

237. 
Roldan, Francisco, revolt, 360, 366, 

373-374; and Bobadilla, 376. 
Romero, El, island, 356. 
Ross, conquered by Thorstein the 

Red and Earl Sigurd the Mighty, 14. 
Rucia, Punta, 213 n. 
Ruiz, Sancho, charts route, 237. 
Rum Cay, 115. 

Sabeta, 345. 

Sabor, Cabo de, 356. / 

Sacro, Puerto, 221. ^ 

Saga-age, in Iceland, 7. 

St. Martin, island, 291 n. 

St. Nicholas Mole, Hayti, 168 n. 

St. Ursula, island, 294 n. 

Sal, La, island, Columbus near, 324. 

Saltes, bar of, 91; Columbus crosses, 
257. 

Samana, Bay of, described, 221; 
Columbus leaves, 228; mentioned, 
295 n. 

Samana, peninsula, 221 n. 

Samaot, 119, 120,122. 

San Honorato, 196 n. 

San Juan, see Porto Rico. 

San Juan River, Nicaragua, 393 n. 

San Miguel, Columbus approaches, 
247. 

San Nicolas, Puerto de, described, 169- 
170. 

San Salvador, name given by Colum- 
bus to landfall, 114, 115, 151, 263; 
natives, 116-117. 

San Salvador, name given by Colum- 
bus to river and port in Cuba, 131, 
133. 

San Theramo, Cape, 229. 

Sanchez, Rodrigo, 109; at Guanahani, 
110; in Cuba, 140. 

Sancta Ana, Cape, 327. 

Santa Catalina, harbor, 156. 

Santa Catherina, island, 322, 365. 



INDEX 



441 



Santa Cruz, island, 293 n.; reported 
proximity of mainland, 359. 

Santa Maria de la Concepcion, dis- 
covered, 115, 263; mentioned, 117; 
Columbus sails from, 118. 

Santa Maria, Azores, Columbus reaches, 
236; attempted seizure of Colum- 
bus at, 245-249; mentioned, 250. 

Santangel, Luis de, Columbus's letter 
to, 243 n., 252 n., 259-272, 369. 

Santo Domingo, 321-322, 365; Colum- 
bus's arrival, 366; revolts, 369; 
Bobadilla's arrival, 375-383; depar- 
ture of Columbus, 391 n. 

Santo Tomas, island, 187, 188, 189, 
198, 199, 208. 

Sao Thiago, Columbus at, 324 n., 325- 
326. 

Saometo, see Isabella, island. 

Saona, 322. 

Sara, Punta, 349. 

Scotland, and Thorstein the Red, 14. 

Seca, Punta, 220, 349. 

Sera, distance from Cape St. Vincent, 
estimated by Ptolemy, 397 n. 

Sesua, Punta, 220 n. 

Seven Cities, myth, and John Cabot's 
voyage, 425. 

Seville, letter of Dr. Chanca to Ca- 
bildo of, 280-313. 

Sierpe, Boca de la, named, 340; men- 
tioned, 354. 

Sierpe, Cabo de, 211. 

Siete Hermanos, Los, 212 n. 

Sigrid, wife of Thorstein of Lysufirth, 
death, 27, 28. 

Sigurd the Mighty, Earl, 14. 

Skagafirth, Karlsefni arrives at, 65. 

Skalholt, Bishop of, ordered to in- 
quire into affairs of Gardar bishopric, 
73. 

Skalholt annals, extract, 69. 

Skrellings, 11; appearance, 36; trade 
with Northmen, 37; attack North- 
men, 38-39; of Markland, 41; 
attack Thorvald, 55; trade with 
Thorfinn Karlsefni, 60; attack Thor- 
finn Karlsefni, 61-62. 

Slave-trade, Indian, 378. 

Slavery, Indian, and Columbus, 344. 

Snaefell, Eric sails to, 17, 46. 

Snaefells-iokul, Eric sails from, 17, 46. 

Snaefellsness, 18. 



Snorri, son of Thorfinn Karlsefni, 41, 
43, 60, 66. 

Snorri, Thorbrand's son, 30; accom- 
panies Thorfinn Karlsefni to Green- 
land, 30; accompanies Thorfinn 
Karlsefni to Vinland, 31, 35-36, 
38-39. 

Snorri Thorbrandsson, saga of Thor- 
finn Karlsefni and, see Eric the Red, 
saga of. 

Social life in Greenland in tenth cen- 
tury, soothsaying, 21-23; Yule 
feast, 31. 

Sol, Rio del, 143. 

Solvi, settles in Greenland, 47. 

Soncino, Raimondo de, first letter to 
Duke of Milan, 424-425; second 
letter, 425-429. 

Soothsaying, an exhibition in Green- 
land, 21-23. 

South America, Columbus on coast, 
331-363; explorations of Hojeda 
and Pinzon, 360 n.; Earthly Para- 
dise, 364-365; first settlement of 
Spaniards, 403 n.; and Asia, 397 n. 

Spain, Columbus's suggestions of colo- 
nial policy for, 160, 273-277; and 
Demarcation Line, 323, 416 n., 430; 
and Columbus's discoveries, 351, 
352, 360-361, 363-364, 390. 

Spice Islands, Cipango confused by 
Cabot with, 427 n. 

Spice trade of the East, 427 n. 

Stokkaness, Thorbiorn settles at, 23. 

Straumey, 33. 

Straumfiord, 34. See Streamfirth. 

Streamfirth, arrival of Thorfinn Karls- 
efni and Snorri, 39 ; Thorfinn Karls- 
efni in, 41 ; arrival of ship from 
Greenland, 69. 

Styr Thorgrimsson, 16, 45; accom- 
panies Eric on voyage, 45. 

Sudrey, 16. 

Sutherland, conquered by Thorstein 
the Red and Earl Sigurd the Mighty, 
14. 

Svend Estridson, king of Denmark, 
67, 68. 

Tajado, Cabo, 220. 
Tanais, country of, 426. 
Tapion, Rio, 212 n. 
Taxamo, Puerto de, 147 a. 



442 



INDEX 



Tello, Gomez, appointed receiver of 
royal dues, 275 n. 

Tenerife, Columbus near, 93. 

Terceira, Pedro Alonso Nino near, 236. 

Testigos, Los, discovered, 356. 

Thiodhild, see Thorhild. 

Thorbiorg, called Little Sibyl, pro- 
phesies, 21-23. 

Thorbiorn, Vifil's son, 15, 16; gives 
feasts, 19, 20; goes to Greenland, 
20; sails to Brattahlid, 23; men- 
tioned, 26, 27, 45; death, 29. 

Thorbiorn Gleamer, settles in Green- 
land, 47. 

Thorbrand, of Alptafirth, sons of, 16. 

Thorbrand, son of Snorri, 38. 

Thord of Hofdi, descendants, 30. 

Thord the Yeller, sons of, 16, 45. 

Thorfinn Karlsefni, and Hauk's book, 
5 ; and North America, 1 1 ; date of 
voyages, 12, 43 n.; in Greenland, 
30-31; marries Gudrid, 31, 59; 
voyage, 31-42, 59-62; in Norway, 
65; in Iceland, 43, 65; descendants, 
43-44, 66. 

Thorfinn Karlsefni, saga of, see E"ic 
the Red, saga of. 

Thorgeir of Hitardal, 16, 45. 

Thorgeir of Thorgeirsfell, 18. 

Thorgeir, Vifil's son, in Iceland, 15; 
marriage, 18. 

Thorgest, quarrels with Eric the Red, 
16, 45; defeats Eric, 17. 

Thorgils, son of Leif, 24. 

Thorgunna, 24. 

Thorhall the Huntsman, 30 ; accom- 
panies expedition of Thorfinn Karls- 
efni, 32; asks aid of Thor, 34; 
sails in search of Vinland, 34-35; 
fate, 35; Thorstein Karlsefni goes 
in search of, 39. 

Thorhild, wife of Eric, 15, 23, 45; 
embraces Christianity, 26. 

Thori Eastman, in Greenland, 54; 
death, 54. 

Thorkel, entertains Thorbiorn, 20-21. 

Thorlak, Bishop, 43 n. 

Thorsnessthing, 16, 45. 

Thorstein Ericson, 23; leads expedi- 
tion towards land discovered by 
Leif, 26, 56; failure, 27, 56-57; 
weds Gudrid, 27, 56; in Western 
Settlement, 27, 57; death, 28-58; 



prophecy of Gudrid's fate, 29, 58- 
59; mentioned, 48. 

Thorstein of Lysufirth, entertains 
Thorstein Ericson and Gudrid, 27- 
28, 57-58; accompanies Gudrid to 
Ericsfirth, 59. 

Thorstein the Red, and Scots, 14. 

Thorvald, father of Eric, goes to Ice- 
land, 15, 45. 

Thorvald, son of Eric, and the Uniped, 
40; mentioned, 48; voyage to 
Wineland, 54-56; death, 56. 

Thorvald Kodransson, 46. 

Thorvard, accompanies expedition of 
Karlsefni, 32; marriage, 48; and 
death of Helgi and Finnbogi, 64. 

Thurid, daughter of Eyvind Easter- 
ling, 14. 

Thurid, daughter of Thorbiorn Vifilson, 
see Gudrid. 

Tobacco-smoking, earliest reference, 
141 n. 

Tordesillas, Treaty of, 323 n., 326 n., 
430. 

Torres, Antonio de, sent back to Spain, 
312 n.; mentioned, 369; and Co- 
lumbus's letter to sovereigns con- 
cerning Demarcation Line, 382. 

Torres, Dona Juana de, Columbus's 
letter to, 369-383. 

Torres, Luis de, sent ashore at Cuba, 
136. 

Torres, Cabo de, 187, 188. 

Tortuga Island, 168, 172, 174; Co- 
lumbus reaches, 178; described, 
179; natives, 180, 183; reports of 
gold, 184. 

Toscanelli map, 101 n. 

Tradir, Eric at, J6. 

Tramontana, La, island, 348, 349. 

Triana, Rodrigo de, sights land, 109. 

Trinidad, discovered, 331; Columbus 
seeks harbor, 333; size, 334, 340; 
Columbus's crew lands, 335; Ind- 
ians, 335-336; climate, 337; fruits, 
338; animals, 338-339. 

Trivigliano, Angelo, letters of, men- 
tioned, 318. 

Trujillo, Columbus near, 391 n., 
392 n. 

Turuqueira, 290. 

Tyrker, accompanies Leif on voyage 
of discovery, 50; in Vinland, 52-53. 



INDEX 



443 



"Uniped" episode, 40, 
Uvsegi, 41. 

Vaetilldi, 41. 

Valldidida, reported to be a king of the 
Skrellings, 41. 

VaUe del Paraiso, 180. 

Valparaiso, Portugal, Columbus at, 
254. 

Valthiof, and Eric the Red, 16. 

Valthiofsstadir, landslide caused by 
Eric's thralls at, 15. 

Vatnshorn, 15, 16, 45. 

Veragua, report of mines, 394; Co- 
lumbus reaches, 400-401; explored 
401; mines found, 401; natives 
401-402; signs of gold, 411; ad- 
vantages for settlement, 411-412 
and Columbus's mythological geog- 
raphy, 413; gold of Quibian, 414 
official appointments, 415. 

Verde, Cabo, 129. 

Verde, Simone, letter of, mentioned, 
318. 

Vespucci, Amerigo, and naming of 
America, 359 n. 

Vifil, freed by Aud, 15. 

Vifilsdal, given by Aud to Vifil, 15. 

Vinland, and Northmen, sources, 3-13; 
verity of tradition, 4, 7-8, 11, 13; 
location, 10, 37 n., 67 n.; natives, 
10-11; chronology of voyages, 12, 
43 n.; Leif's discovery, 25, 50-54; 
Thorstein Ericson's attempt, 26- 
27 ; voyage of Biarni Herjulfson, 
47-49; Thorvald's voyage, 54-56; 



Thorfinn Karlsefni's expedition, 31- 
42, 59-62; expedition of Finnbogi 
and Freydis, 62-64; described by 
Adam of Bremen, 67; Bishop Eric's 
expedition, 69. 
Voyages, Gunnbiorn, 16, 46; Eric the 
Red, 16-17, 45-46; Leif Ericson, 
25, 50-54; Thorstein Ericson, 26- 
27; Biarni Herjulf son, 47-49; Thor- 
vald, 54-56; Thorfinn Karlsefni, 
31-42, 59-62; Finnbogi and Frey- 
dis, 62-64; Bishop Eric, 69; Co- 
lumbus's first, 89-258, 263-272; 
second, 278-313; third, 314-366; 
fourth, 389-418; John Cabot (1497), 
423-424. 

Watling Island, 110 n. 
Wonder-strands, 33, 34, 35. 

Xamand, 295, 297. 

Xaragud, 345; and Adrian de Muxica's 
''' revolt, 374, 375. 

'Yamaye, see Jamaica. 

Yaqui River, 216 n., 298 n. 

Yaquino, port, 365, 391 n. 

Yazual, Isla, see Padre y Hijo, Cabo de. 

Yebra, river, 401 n. 

Ysabeta, island, 347, 349, 350. 

Yucatan, and the Mayas, 215 n., 410 n. 

Yuyapari, 334, 339, 340, 349, 350, 353. 

Zayto, and Columbus's belief that 

he had reached Asia, 136. 
Zuruquia, 297. 



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THE NORTHMEN, COLUMBUS, AND CABOT 

985-J503 

THE VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN. Edited by Julius E. Olson, 
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